The Girl With The Lights
by nuttynuttynutball
Summary: 12 year old Alice from District 3 is immediately counted out as the victor of the 72nd Hunger Games. What they don't know is that she has so much more to offer than the typical District 3 intelligence. Will she win the games with her deadly fighting abilities or will her blossoming relationship with a career hinder her victory?
1. Bears & Fake Tears

Today marks the beginning, and the end. Otherwise known as Reaping Day.

My name is Alice, I'm 12 years old and I'm from District 3. Most tributes from my district have nothing to offer but their intelligence. I'm different.

My name is Alice, and this is my year.

When I was four years old, my parents died. We were all sitting in our house when we heard a large crackle. Before long, the whole house was up in flames. I still remember how the peacekeepers had forcefully dragged us out of the house.

I look down at the scar on my hand, trailing from the bottom of my index finger to my wrist. It's faded a great deal by now but you can see it if you look carefully. It happened when I dragged my fingernails against our house's wooden floors as the peacekeepers tried to get us out. A fiery piece of wood had fallen from seemingly nowhere and scorched my hand. It burned like nothing I've ever experienced, but then again, it proves as a helpful remainder of that day. Ironically, it keeps me strong, giving me motivation as I go along.

Despite the government setting our house on fire, my younger sister Violet and I weren't told much. They simply told us that our parents were part of an illegal organization, formed to oppose the government. Then, they told me "When you turn 12, you're going in The Hunger Games."

I stayed in my new makeshift room with Violet for the whole week. The other people in our district were told that the house burned down because some wires got mixed up. That the peacekeepers only had time to save the children. People came and paid their condolences but they meant less than nothing to me.

I guess I strengthened a great deal from that experience. I realized that I can't just let the capitol control me. They're sending me in the Hunger Games so I'd die. Unless I do something, I'm going to die one of those horrible gruesome deaths I always see on TV. That's when I started training. I've been training every night in an abandoned warehouse since I was 4.

I go there every night, undergoing intense training by myself for around 6 hours before going home to sleep. By now, I'm familiar with every type of weapon there is. My favorite weapon though, are swords. Given my stature you'd probably guess daggers or bow and arrows, but no. I don't like just any swords, I like big, two-handed ones. I'm much stronger than I look. Swords are a deadly extension of my arm, I'm more comfortable with them than anything else. I enjoy the feeling of a sword in both my hands, the thrill, the adrenaline. Though besides swords, I'm fond of daggers, nun chucks, bow and arrow and gymnastics mixed with martial arts.

Not to mention, I've made certain that my ruined fingernails from the day that fire burned down my house are accounted for. I constructed 6 inch long artificial claws, made of steel. Then, in a extremely painful, excruciating process, I managed to insert them into my hand. I stole some supplies from the District 3 hospital to insert it the right way. Sometimes, people from the Capitol do this operation too. However, they use it to put in flowers or jewels or whatnot, not 6 inch long killer claws.

With the claws inserted inside my hand, no one can see it. It's only if I flex my hands a certain way that the ten deadly claws come springing out. With my claws, I can do just about anything. They're definitely my best weapon.

However, I don't intend on using that in the arena. That's reserved for the president.

I hate the capitol with a burning passion. They took away everything from me. My family, my home, my dignity, my future and my present.

Now, I'm 12 years old, today's Reaping Day, and I'm ready.

"Alice! What's taking you so long?" My ten-year old sister Violet calls, "Breakfast is ready!"

"Coming" I yell back. I look into the mirror one final time. Today's the last day I'll see myself like this, I think to myself. Not that I care particularly about my appearance. Though people always tell me I take after my mother. My straight ebony black hair, falling to the small of my back, my alabaster skin and my eyes. My eyes are my favorite feature. They're a deep purple, speckled with flecks of gold. Different from anyone else in District 3. My appearance elicits a lot of attention, some people say I look like an angel, others say I look like a witch.

I arrive in our small makeshift kitchen and smile at Violet, "Good morning."

Violet was only two years old when our parents died. She remembers even less than I do, not even being able to recall our parent's faces.

Violet looks up at me, worry filling her petite features "Today's Reaping Day. You're going to win and come back right?"

I finish my breakfast of grapes in a matter of seconds "Of course. Then we can ditch this dump and move into the Victor's Village." To prove my point, I gesture around our shabby house. It looks like it's on the verge of falling apart.

Violet still doesn't look convinced.

I sigh and tousle her hair "I've trained hard for this Vi, you know I can do this. Do you trust me?"

Violet stares at me for a while, then smiles "Yes."

"Good. I'll see you in a couple weeks, ok?" I bend down and kiss her forehead.

"Wait, can't you play a song first?" Violet looks up at me desperately.

Warmth floods my body as I look down at her "Of course. I almost forgot."

Not letting go of her hand, I walk over to the harp placed in the center of our living room. It's a almost comical juxtaposition. The shining golden harp placed amongst the dirty grey trash we call a house. The harp is one of the few possessions our parents left behind. Our mother used to play it every day. From the moment I could walk, she started teaching me how to play. Granted, I wasn't very good but I got better over the years. Now, playing the harp is one of the few things that keep me sane.

I sit down on the stool next to the harp, close my eyes and start playing. A fluid smooth sort of tranquility flows through my fingers as I play the first notes of River Flows In You. It's the song mother used to play all the time.

The notes flood the house and seep through my body. Finally, as I play the last couple notes, I look down at Violet's face. Violet's eyes were closed, her body swaying slightly to the music. This image is too perfect, I don't want to leave. At this moment, I feel a crack in the armor I've been building up for years.

Shaking my head, I pull my hands away from the harp. That instrument will be the death of me if this continues on.

"I love you Vi, you know that?"

Violet looks at me surprised "Of course. I love you too."

With a final kiss and hug, I depart the house. Though not before visiting the forest right next to our house. There are hardly any trees in District 3, I doubt anyone even knows of this forest. We're lucky though, our house being right on the edge, I can visit the forest anytime I want. Of course, I have to limbo under the fence to get in.

Once I reach the forest, I whistle my signature three-note whistle. I've been using this whistle since I was five years old to see him. I wait a while, listening closely to the singing birds and the rustling of the leaves.

Faintly at first, then louder, I hear the sound of paws thudding against the forest floor. Finally, a bear bursts out of the trees, heading straight for me.

"Marley!" I squeal happily, running to to him. Marley nuzzles against my hand, his white fur rubbing against my skin.

Next to Violet, Marley is my closest family. I met him seven years ago when I was five. I was trekking along this forest, looking for some wood to carve into a bow and arrow when I saw him. He was a enormous white bear, standing in a lake, hunting for fish. I instantly recognized him as a Spirit Bear. A type of bear warned as highly dangerous and to take all caution in order to avoid. At first, I was scared out of my wits. I stood there stock still for a while, not wanting to alert the bear. He saw me anyway. We stood there staring at each other.

Then he started walking over to me, his teeth bared menacingly. I had taken a couple deep breaths, knowing that running away would simply make him run after me. My fast running speed doesn't change the fact that he has four legs and I only have two.

Then, I remember a piece of information that eventually saved my life. I remember reading in a book somewhere how to act when you first meet a bear in captivity. I try to ignore that this bear is in no way, shape or form in captivity as I start approaching him, my hand held out.

The bear instantly growls, stopping. I stop too, about seven feet away from him. My hand still held out, I look him in the eye, showing no fear. Eventually, after a long excruciating minute of standing there with my arm held out, I start slowly walking again.

This time, the bear growls once again but softer than before, backing away slightly. I finally reach within two feet of him. I stand there once again, my hand held out, my eyes warm and inviting.

What happened next surprised me to no end. The bear actually walked forward and put his head against my hand. That was the start of our friendship.

We grew closer and closer every day, I started spending hours every day in the forest, using him as a fighting partner. Yes, a bear fighting partner. He fought against me happily, making sure that I was never severely injured. There were a couple times though where I got a broken arm or a fractured leg.

The first couple years, I lost every time I fought him. Going home bruised and injured. Then, as I grew older and stronger, I learned to incorporate gymnastics into my fighting movements. I was able to flip and turn and jump, using them both as a defense and an offense. Not long after, I started winning. I would be able to wrestle him to the ground. Soon, I never lost.

No doubt, wrestling wild bears will definitely help me in the arena. It was hard though, Marley never had a set fighting pattern. Every time I fought him, his style changed. His paws and teeth would come slashing at me at totally haphazard rates and angles. I couldn't predict anything at all. It eventually comes down to skill.

Marley is my best friend. I can't even imagine a life without him.

"I'll miss you so much." I whisper, putting my forehead against his.

Marley rumbled happily, his soft fur brushing against my skin.

I leave after a while, not wanting to drag out goodbyes any longer than necessary. I'll be back though, I will see him and Violet again.

The town square was filled with people. I see kids my age crying and older kids trying not to look nervous. I follow suit, pretending to bite my lip and pick at my nails.

I've thought it all out. No one knows I've been training hard every night for 8 years. They all think I hide out in my house with Violet and all we do is mourn our parents. Only coming out occasionally to buy food. They don't know what I'm capable of. All I have to do is pretend I'm weak so I'll be ignored, then I can wait it out till the final five or four in the arena and start killing.

I shakily walk over to the 12-year old section and take my place next to a sniveling redhead.

A few minutes later, a woman walks onto the platform, wearing the strangest clothes I have ever seen. I occasionally see a couple people from the capitol in our district but this woman's ensemble resembles a cross between a zebra, a fruit basket and vomit all mixed together.

The woman grabs the microphone and bellows "Hello District 3! I'm Flavia, your district escort and welcome to reaping day of the 72nd Hunger Games!"

Flavia smiles at the silent crowd "Lets start with the ladies."

She reaches into the big glass bowl and delicately plucks a small piece of paper from the bunch. I instantly notice the difference. This piece of paper has a slightly different texture from the other pieces. It's hard to see from a distance unless you have really good eyesight.

Flavia unfolds the piece of paper and opens her mouth to speak. The peacekeepers surrounding me give me a small smirk.

Well, here goes nothing.

"Alice Willow!"


	2. Reapings & Mentors

_Flavia unfolds the piece of paper and opens her mouth to speak. The peacekeepers surrounding me give me a small smirk._

_Well, here goes nothing._

_"Alice Willow!"_

As Flavia searches the crowd for me, I start the acting performance of my life.

I let myself stand there with a shocked expression for a while. You get the idea, wide eyes, mouth open. That's how any normal 12 year old would react at first. The crowd parts like the Red Sea and Flavia's heavily made up eyes finally settle on me.

"There you are dear! Come on up."

This is when I burst out crying, my chest racking with sobs.

"Noo! I don't want to die!" I wail, tears flowing heavily down my face.

Through my tears, I notice everyone is staring at me with pity on their faces. The peacekeepers were walking over, ready to push me up on stage.

I decide to play this for all it's worth.

As the peacekeepers near me, I leap to my right and start running. Not at my full speed though, half my speed is enough to convince them I'm running for my life.

I duck around and below the hordes of people as they gape at me run past. The peacekeepers soon surround me and roughly grab my arm.

The crowd whispers and murmurs, feeling pity for me.

"Poor girl, first her parents die, now she's in the hunger games."

"Doesn't she have a ten year old sister?"

"She doesn't stand a chance."

"Can't someone volunteer for her?"

However, no one volunteers for me as the peacekeepers drag me on the stage. I weep and cry and scream. Now there's no way I won't be known as the weakest tribute to ever be reaped into the hunger games.

Flavia looks at me with a mix of sympathy and disgust. She pats my head as the peacekeepers continue to hold my arms tight, refusing to let go.

Flavia turns back to the now slightly disassembled crowd "Onto the boys."

She picks a paper and unfolds it. I notice it's the same texture as the other pieces. So I'm the only one the capitol hates huh. Well the feeling's mutual.

"Desmond Leffer!" Flavia calls.

I stop my sobbing for a brief moment to peer into the crowd.

A boy comes strutting out of the 17 year old section. Desmond is one of the rare beings in District 3 that is well-built, tall and muscled. His confident grin tells all. He was probably planning on volunteering anyway.

As he walks up the stage, I notice a couple girls sighing in despair. Ah, so he's popular here too. I wouldn't know, I barely interact with anyone in the district. Not surprising though, he's not bad looking with honey brown hair and light green eyes.

He stands next to me, towering over my small 5'3 stature.

Flavia beams "Excellent, shake hands tributes."

The peacekeepers begrudgingly let go of my arms so I can shake hands, only to grab ahold of my shoulder.

Desmond looks down at me, disgust coloring his handsome features. It's an odd expression coming from a boy. Since I'm pretty, I usually get glances of longing, but no one ever approaches. They've all heard about my parents. That doesn't matter now though, I can tell he doesn't like me. I instantly dislike him as well.

Not that I show it on my face, I simply cower and shake his huge hand.

With that, Flavia ushers Desmond and me into the Justice Building.

I sit in the waiting room, waiting, even though I know no one will come visit me. Violet's probably sitting at home, worrying.

Surprisingly, a couple boys come visit me. They all confess their love for me. Apparently they never had the guts to tell me before. Not one of them said anything along the lines of "Good luck" or "I'll be waiting for you" or even "I know you can do it."

Figures, I think bitterly, now they think I'm going to die, might as well confess. I quickly stop myself, idiot, that means my plan is working.

Then, Desmond and me board the train, en route to the capitol.

We sit silently in the dining room on the train. Waiting for our mentor to come greet us. I know who our mentors will be from past years. Wiress and Beetee. They're both idiots, I think, winning only because of pure luck and a bit of brain power.

I'll show everyone that District 3, no, that I'm not to be underestimated. Especially those sadistic psychos from the capitol.

Desmond's harsh voice breaks my train of thought.

"I hope you're not planning on allying with me." He says, looking at me with no expression.

I look back at him dumbfounded, then remember my image and sniffle a couple times.

He continues "There's no way I can partner with someone so weak. You'd only bring me down. I mean, you'd most likely die in the bloodbath anyway. Why bring me with you?"

I'm speechless. After a couple seconds of me seriously contemplating yelling all the worst obscene words I know at him, along with hurling the coffee table at him, I'm saved by the sound of the door opening.

Our mentors Wiress and Beetee enter the room.

"Hello children." Beetee smiles at us from underneath his glasses. Wiress only nods. Neither of them state their names, they expect we know who they are.

Desmond leans forward while I pretend to sniffle a couple times.

Beetee speaks "As your mentors, we are here to guide you. I hope we get along in the future."

Desmond narrows his eyes "What makes you two think you can help me? You guys clearly used your brain to win the games. I intend to do it the real way, through strength."

Wiress speaks, I can tell she only speaks when she has to.

"Your arrogance is not welcome here." Wiress speaks smoothly, her eyes unwavering "I can see you certainly need our mentoring now."

Desmond opens his mouth, undoubtedly to retort back but Beetee speaks before he does.

"Alice, is it?" He asks, looking at me, "How do you feel about all this?"

My eyes well up "I'm just scared."

Desmond scoffs while Beetee smiles at me "Don't worry. Your odds may be slim but you'll have plenty of training before you go in the arena."

Desmond pipes up "Speaking of odds, who are the other tributes?"

Wiress looks over at the muted television. Right at that moment, the Capitol symbol came up, signaling the start of the reaping program. Desmond quickly turned up the volume of the TV.

From District 1, a girl called Nectar was reaped. Then another girl quickly volunteers and strides up onto the stage. She's overconfident, cocky and has a very harsh appearance. She's pretty in a rocker punk kind of way. How refreshing, District 1 does have girls that aren't just gorgeous airheads. This girl introduces herself as Jinx, then proceeds to smirk into the camera.

Then, the District 1 boy is reaped. Yet again, someone volunteers. The volunteer is muscled, tall and has a very quiet demeanor about him. He introduces himself as Salvatore. I can still tell he's extremely confident though, through his odd quiet disposition. Salvatore is definitely handsome though, with deep blue eyes and blonde hair.

In District 2, a girl called Kris volunteers. She's the District 1 girl staple, airhead, gorgeous, confident.

Then, a boy called Octavian is reaped. Oddly, no one volunteers, which, considering this is District 2, is highly unusual. Then, Octavian steps out of the 18 year old section and I immediately realize why. Octavian gives off a sadistic aura, the crowd backs away from him, looking scared as he mounts the stage. Despite this strange reaction from the crowd, Octavian is the most handsome guy I've ever seen, possessing sun-kissed blonde hair and hazel brown eyes.

Next, it's our district. I watch my amazing stunt on the TV. Everything came out exactly the way I wanted it to. Except I notice a couple boys crying for me. Well isn't that sweet (sarcasm). The commentators artfully point this out as well.

Beetee and Wiress glance over at me. I know what they're thinking, that my little episode will probably result in no sponsors for me. That's fine though, I've considered that little repercussion. I can survive without sponsors.

Next, it's District 4. A girl called Hayla volunteers. She's a young volunteer, being only 15 years old. I have to say, she's one of the prettiest beings I've ever seen, despite her face being void of emotion as she mounts the stage. No doubt, sponsors will rain down on this one.

Then, a 15 year old boy called Sander volunteers as well. Though being only 15, he's extremely confident and cocky. Not to mention, extremely good looking as well, with honey brown hair and deep sea-green eyes.

Districts 5, 6, 7 and 8 fly past, their tributes all seem dull and uninteresting.

Then, a girl called Georgie was reaped from District 9. She doesn't seem to have a lot going for her physical capabilities but I can instantly tell she's smart.

District 10 seems boring as well, but then District 11 came on. I can tell they're competition. A pair of siblings are reaped. Hannah, the girl, seems extremely menacing and angry. Kenton, the boy, was tall and muscular. Not to mention, they both seem mentally unstable.

Then, a pair of weaklings are reaped from District 12 as expected, and the program ends with the Capitol anthem.

So those are the tributes this year. Doesn't seem like much competition, excluding the careers and the tributes from 11. The best way to beat someone is to beat them at their own game. I make a mental note to observe them during training and see what weapons they use.


	3. Ceremonies & Fireworks

Since we're District 3, we arrive in the Capitol soon. As I stepped off the train, I see crowds of people, pushing and elbowing just to get near me. This is sick. One moment we're treated like celebrities, the next, they throw us into the arena.

Flavia ushered Desmond and I into the Remake centre. We were then separated into two side-by-side rooms.

They lay me down on a metal bed. Then, three stylists hovered over me, smiling down at my face.

"Hello District 3! We're your stylists, I'm Genie." The one with blue hair says.

"I'm Beryl!" The one with orange eyebrows says perkily.

"And I'm Ruby!" The one with red skin practically shrieks at me.

I almost wince at the amount of perkiness in this room. Are they on something?

"Hi" I say shakily, maintaining my nervous composure.

"Aw. Are you nervous, little one?" Beryl simpers. Her patronizing expression is enough to make me want to puke.

Instead, I nod and a few tears run down my cheeks.

The three of them are clearly unsure of what to do with me. I bet they've never had a tribute like this before. They simply hand me a few tissues and get started on "remaking" me.

The three of them proceed to wax me to the point where I feel like a feather-less chicken. Then, they tweeze my eyebrows, snip off my stray hairs, manicure my nails, apply some kind of lotion all over me and finally, they put some sort of balm on my lips.

"There, you're ready." Genie says, looking over me one final time.

Ready? Surely there must be more. Tributes go out into the chariots all dressed up, not in a hospital gown and no makeup.

"Now we're taking you to Xavier." Ruby looks at me with a mix of excitement and pity.

The three of them lead me through a series of corridors, each less identifiable than the last. Finally, they stop in front of a metal door that looks exactly like the twenty ones we've passed so far and knock on it promptly.

A rough male voice calls out from behind the door, telling us to come in.

Without a second's hesitation, the three of them open the door, push me in and proceed to slam the door shut.

What was all that about? I think wearily. Then I turn and look at this Xavier. I immediately understand why those three didn't want to see him.

Xavier was sitting at the corner of the room, his feet slung lazily on top of a metal desk. His ebony hair and eyes seem to pierce through my very being. His dark skin was tattooed in so many places I can barely see flesh. Not to mention, despite his completely black attire, you can see the muscles bulging out his arms and legs.

If I didn't know better, I'd think he was a past victor, not a stylist.

Xavier stood up, the piercings on his face jingling as he did so. I cower instantaneously, taking a step back. The man seems to enjoy my fake fear, licking his lips as he watched me.

"It's such a shame I was assigned to you instead of your district partner." Xavier sighs, "Now that boy can actually give me something to work with."

Dislike immediately blossoms in my chest as I watch this man.

"You however," He looks at my distastefully, "will surely die in the first couple days once you're in the arena. It'll be a complete waste of time trying to make you pretty to get sponsors."

I feel an urge to spit on this man and throw him across the room. Despite his muscles and obvious size advantage, I know I can take him with my bare hands. I've prepared myself for this type of size disadvantage by wrestling Marley.

I manage to maintain my fearful expression, looking anywhere but him.

"Get over here." Xavier orders, his tone unwavering.

I hesitate a couple seconds and walk over to him, stopping a meter short. I wait for him to say something, instead, I feel his hands wrench my chin up, forcing me to look at him.

Xavier studies my face for a while, then he takes off my robe and assesses my naked body. Well this isn't uncomfortable at all.

Xavier finally finishes studying me and tells me to put my robe on.

"Well, at least your not completely ugly." Xavier says simply. He starts to measure me, a process taking up to twenty minutes.

Five hours later of me sitting in the room with nothing to do but fidget as the makeup team hovers over me, Xavier and co. are finally done with my chariot costume.

They fit the dress snugly over my head. I feel a heavy silky sort of material drape my whole body. Finally, they're done adjusting and I open my eyes.

I gasp, my mind going blank for a whole second. My dress is unlike anything I've ever seen in the Hunger Games. My cap-sleeved gown drapes over my body and onto the floor, trailing at least a meter. The whole dress was made out of these old-school film strips. There must be at least five hundred individual film strips on the dress. On each strip, there's this sort of purple-blue light moving around in it. On closer look, you can see that it's actually depicting chemical reactions, shown in a purple-blue hue. The overall gown appears to be this purple-blue ethereal thing, moving as if it's got a mind of it's own.

On my head, a wreath is placed carefully, made out of wires and little bulbs. The bulbs are of course purple-blue, matching the dress. Then, I see they barely did anything to my hair. Choosing to leave it down, only curling it slightly at the end to have a wavy effect. They also threaded some glowing beads into my hair, shifting and shining every time I move my neck.

My makeup was done perfectly as well. They emphasized my cheekbones and my eyes. Using black and gold eyeliner and eyeshadows, they've done a cat eye. The eyeliner emphasized my eyes to the point where they look like purple gems. My eyes were breathtaking, I've never been more proud of them. Then, Xavier patterned the corner of each of my eyes with a single, small gold gem.

Finally, they fitted three-inch heels on my feet (which I don't understand since you can't even see my feet under the dress) and sprayed a body shimmer all over me.

The final effect gives the impression that I'm an ethereal, otherworldly creature. Shimmering and shining with every step. I look beautiful and deadly at the same time.

The whole team stands there watching me, gauging my reaction. Except for Xavier, who appears to be admiring his work.

"Thank you guys!" I squeal, breaking the tension at once, "This is beautiful!" I was't even acting when I said that, it was totally and completely jaw-droppingly sensational.

Xavier cracks the smallest smile "Of course it is. Now lets get you out to the chariots, we're already running late as it is."

I was brought through countless corridors yet again. This time though, we walk slower as to make sure my dress doesn't snag on anything. Finally we reach the chariots.

I'm the last tribute there. As I walk in, I swear every person stopped talking to look over at me. I ignore the attention. This may be a flaw in my plan, considering that my plan's main purpose is so that I'd be underestimated and ignored. However, I can care less right now as I walk across the deathly silent room to my chariot.

Desmond stands next to the chariot, his look of awe confirming my ego. Desmond's tux is made to match my dress, though not nearly as stunning considering the film strips are only placed on the collar and buttons of his tux.

"You look...good." Desmond managed as I near him.

"Yes, that's enough small talk for now." Xavier said briskly as he walked ahead of me and stopped at the chariot.

"You will notice that you're wearing matching rings." Xavier instructed. I look at my hand, sure enough, a silver band with a single purple stone was fitted on my index finger. I hadn't noticed it.

"When you're out in the chariots, wait a while as the crowd sees you and cheers. Then, at the right moment, you two press on the stones at the same time."

"Why? What'll happen?" Desmond asks. I lean in, curious.

Xavier smiles grimly "You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"

We were then left alone after the stylists help us board the chariot. We stand there in tense silence.

"Hey." A smooth, almost flirtatious masculine voice interrupts our silence. Desmond and I turn around to find ourselves staring straight into Sander's sea-green eyes.

Sander was the District 4 tribute. Despite being only 3 years older than me, his stylist had clearly played up the sexy angle. Sander was wearing a green merman tail, curved over his legs and split apart at the bottom so he could walk. Other than that, he was completely naked. His chest was sprayed with a gold shimmer and he held a golden trident.

His district partner Hayla stood next to him. She was wearing even less than Sander, with only what seems like a clam bra and a ruffly mini-skirt to pass off as scales. Nonetheless, she looks gorgeous.

With the two of them put together, the stylists certainly did a good job. I could tell it was meant to intimidate but right now, I feel like the merman/maid thing has been used one too many times.

"Hey." Desmond grunts at them, clearly checking Hayla out. I remain silent, hoping they'd take my silence as fear.

"Well aren't you the show-stopper tonight." Sander's eyes glitter maliciously as he looks over me. I shift uneasily under his gaze, knowing this will only prompt them further.

"Who would've thought that the crybaby at the reaping would turn out like this." Hayla said softly, her fingers tousling my hair.

The ultimate mix between a compliment and an insult. Well, two can play at that game.

I stammer "I-I-I-"

"Alice, was it?" Sander interrupts, clearly enjoying my fear, "You know this costume is wasted on you." He leans in close, his lips next to my ear "It'd look so much better off."

I resist the urge to gag and roundhouse kick him in the groin. Instead, I shoot away from his face, making sure to nearly trip over my hem and onto Desmond.

Sander laughs, his musical laugh ringing through the room. By now, most tributes have stopped what they're doing to watch. Oh great, more attention. I make a mental note to kill Sander first in the arena.

At that moment, the wide doors burst open, signaling the first chariot to roll out. Sander and Hayla quickly hurry to their chariot behind us.

When our chariot rolls out, I'm nearly blinded by the light. When the haziness in my eyes clear, I find myself looking at a huge stadium, capitol people filling every stand. Their cheers increase tenfold when they see us.

Desmond basks in the attention, waving left and right. I stay still and timid. About twenty seconds in, Desmond elbows me. I look up at him and realize immediately, then I nod.

Together, we raise our hands into the air and press our rings. Almost immediately, I hear a sizzling, then, without warning at all, fireworks burst into the air from behind us. The fireworks color the air with a bang, their purple and gold shimmers astounding the crowd.

The crowd cheers even louder, their chanting of our names ringing in my ears. I look up and realize the fireworks spell words in the sky. In the sky, in bold lettering, says "WE ARE DISTRICT 3."

I can't help but grin a little, Xavier and the others have truly outdone themselves. No doubt, the cameras are on us now.

For some reason, I feel different, my dress feels lighter. I look down and realize my long train is gone, instead, my dress only reaches above my knees. I realize with a jolt that the train had been the firecrackers. No wonder it was so heavy! I smile, so that's why the heels were necessary.

Fast forward to nighttime, after the chariot rides, Desmond and I were hurried into our rooms. We have this massive house all to ourselves, complete with flatscreen TV's, massage chairs and scenic background-changing walls.

I fall asleep quickly, comforting myself with the thought that in a couple days, I'll be out of the arena and on my way to President Snow's sorry butt.

_Please review! Thanks for reading :)_


	4. Redheads & Training

The next morning, I wake up to Flavia's cheery yells of good morning and her ripping off my blanket. I grit my teeth, this woman seriously gets on my nerves. Not to mention, she was the one who plucked my rigged name out of the bowl. So she must know the Capitol set me up for this. Why she never said anything? I have yet to know.

I brush my teeth and get dressed in my training outfit, consisting of a simple black one-piece jumpsuit with the number 3 imprinted on the arm. Then, I comb my hair back into a tight high pony and descend the staircase to the dining room.

Desmond, Wiress and Beetee are already seated there, digging in to the mounds of food on the table. My eyes widen at the heaps of mashed potatoes, turkey, assorted fruits and chocolate marshmallow dessert. Is all this really for breakfast?

"Ah, Alice." Beetee greets, his eyes twinkling, "Come sit."

I skip over to the dining table and plonk myself down on the remaining chair next to Desmond. I promptly heap mounds of food onto my plate.

Beetee clears his throat "As you two may know, today is the first day of training. Now this is important. The training portion of the Games can either make or break you." He pauses to take in our expressions "When your training, make sure you show what your made of. If your strong, throw weights. If your fast, do the obstacle course."

Desmond looks bewildered "Really, thats it? I would've pegged you as the kind of mentor who'd tell us to hold everything back."

Wiress smiles stoically "Well of course. Make sure you hold one major skill back. Either that, or don't show your as good as you really are in your best skill. Just make sure that your good enough that the other tributes would want to be in an alliance with you. Preferably the Careers."

Desmond smiles and puffs up his chest slightly, he evidently thinks he's in with them already. What a loud, idiotic buffoon. I simply stay quiet and continue eating my cream puffs. I've intended from the start that I would never join the Careers. Plus, my whole plan depends on the notion that I hold everything back. Beetee and Wiress's advice so far are useless to me.

"Now," Wiress commands, "What are your strengths?"

Desmond starts to speak, then turns sharply to me, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. He then shakes his head a little, as if to assert to himself that I'm no threat and starts again. I do everything in my power to not smile, my plan is going perfectly so far!

"I'm good with swords, I have strength and I can do some martial arts." Desmond boasts.

All short-range fighting skills, I note. This will come in handy in the arena. Not to mention he prefers swords too? It'll be real interesting if we ever fight each other.

Beetee nods while Wiress looks curious "Where'd you learn that in District 3?"

"My parents trained me." Desmond shrugs.

Then they all turn to me. The expression on their faces are clear as day, so I do what's expected of me.

"I don't have a skill." I say quietly.

"Then develop one." Beetee encourages, "Try out as many weapons stations in the training center as you can. Find one that's right for you. For your size, I'd recommend knife-throwing or archery."

I nod and pretend to listen to the rest of his advice and survival tips. Despite me having already read all about them back home in District 3.

Finally, Desmond and I get out of the apartment and we enter the training center. As we enter, I notice the high ceilings, the panel of gamemakers on the side of the room and the weapons, oh the weapons. My eyes take in the feast, I've had my resources back home but this is in a league of it's own. My eyes flit back and forth between the stainless steel knives, swords, bow and arrow, spears, nun chucks.

I finally stop looking around to notice the tributes. Desmond and I are one of the last ones, the only people missing are the tributes from District 9. Then, I notice all the tributes are looking at us uneasily. I briefly wonder why but then I see it.

I was too busy looking around to notice the advancing Career pack, their smiles as twisted as their minds, no doubt. I feign shock and turn to look at Desmond. Except he's long gone, flitting to the other tributes.

I mentally curse him, having no choice but to stand there stock still in fear, like an idiot.

The Career pack is as usual, made up of Careers from Districts 1, 2 and 4. Namely the tributes Jinx, Salvatore, Kris, Octavian, Hayla and Sander. No doubt they're coming here to curse me for stealing their spotlight in the chariot rides.

Sure enough, that's the first thing Jinx says as they reach me "Hey there, 3. Nice costume yesterday." Her heavily made-up eyes stare straight into mine. I gulp visibly and start to edge away from them.

"Not so fast." A laughing voice says from behind me, reaching out to shove me forward. I don't even have to look to know it's Sander.

"Your time is over." Hayla hisses "You'll be the first one dead in the arena."

"No amount of training will save this one." Kris sniggers.

The four of them continue to belittle me, pushing and shoving me around as I whimper and cry, curling up on the ground. I can't help but notice Octavian and Salvatore standing back, looking bored. Interesting, I would've pegged Octavian as the sadist type. Guess he thinks he's too cool to waste his time on little girls. Definitely an advantage from my point of view.

"Did you hear what they nicknamed her?" Kris asks the others.

"Yeah, The Girl With The Lights. Ridiculous." Jinx scoffs.

"Your lucky the capitol is lapping you up for now." Hayla smirks "Once you're in the arena, pretty costumes won't save you from your inevitable death."

"What do you think your doing?" A loud voice booms over the spacious room. All the tributes turn to look at a tall lanky redhead. I instantly recognize her as Georgie, the girl tribute from District 9.

Georgie strides across the room so she's standing directly in front of us "I don't know what this is supposed to be. A stunt for intimidation or just fun, but learn to pick on someone your own size." As she talks, her hand wraps around my shoulders protectively and pulls me behind her.

Jinx did not take kindly to this "What's your name again? Ginny? Who do you think you are, talking to us that way."

Georgie barks out a laugh "That was the single most hypocritical statement I've ever heard. Congratulations."

Georgie proceeds to walk away from the Careers, bringing me with her "Oh, and it's Georgie." She calls, not bothering to turn around. As we walk, I notice her hand is trembling on my shoulder. Interesting, she's not as fearless as she's letting on.

As she brings me along, I trip over my feet a few times, my face a blubbering snotty mess. I can hear Jinx fuming as we walk away while the other Careers try and calm her down.

"Watch your back Ginny!" Jinx yells at our retreating backs, "You don't know who you're messing with!"

I turn up to look at Georgie's determined face as we walk, her expression softens as she realizes I'm looking at her. It was definitely unexpected, from her reaping and what little I know of her, I would've thought her strategy is to fly under the radar.

"Thank you." I state. At that moment, I realize that's the only thing I've said since the past couple days that has not been a total lie.

Georgie smiles down at me and stops "No problem sweetie. Just try and stay away from the Careers from now on."

With that, Georgie was gone, walking over to the Head Instructor who was currently asking us all to stand in a circle.

The Head Instructor goes on to talk about how there would be no fighting with other tributes allowed, that the survival stations are just as important as the weaponry stations etc. I listen closely but most of what she's saying I've already read in the Hunger Games Tribute Manual. The moment she finishes talking, all the tributes break apart to go to their own individual stations.

The Careers naturally head to the weapons stations, Desmond follows them eagerly, ready to show them his skills. I spot Georgie heading over to the knot station. I hesitate, looking around. I definitely can't go to the weapons station right off the bat. I decide on the edible plants station.

I'm there by myself for a while, observing the other tributes silently as I sort the edible plants from the poisonous ones.

I look at the Careers first. Salvatore is at the sword station, cutting and beheading every dummy in sight. He's one to watch out for, no doubt the leader of the Career pack this year. Jinx is currently at the hand-to-hand combat station, she's taking on three instructors at once and she's still winning. Hm, not bad.

Kris, the beautiful District 2 tribute is at the Spears station. Every spear she throws hits the target, not always on the bulls-eye though. Nonetheless, it's enough for a quite the injury. Then I notice something odd, Octavian who I thought gave off a sadistic aura in his reaping wasn't at any weapons station at all. In fact, he's doing exactly what I'm doing, observing. Except while I'm at least pretending to sort plants, he just stands there, leaning against the wall, his sharp gaze piercing through every tribute. I immediately promote him to the Top 2 in my Tributes To Watch Out For list.

Then I look for Hayla and Sander. Both of them are at the Trident station, go figure. Unsurprisingly, all the tridents they throw are spot-on.

This year's Careers seem stronger than normal, I can imagine at least three of them getting a 10 in their training scores. I look around for the rest of the tributes, Districts 5, 7 and 10 seem to have formed an alliance. They're all chatting away at the camouflage station. I'd classify them as easy kill but then again, there's always strength in numbers.

Georgie is talking to her district partner at the knot station, are they in an alliance? Thats too bad, I was hoping I'd get to spare her if we meet in the arena. However, that's only the case if she's alone.

Desmond is at the weights station, he's throwing huge weights around effortlessly. If he keeps that up, his lifelong dream of getting in the Careers just might come true.

District 11's siblings, the ones I thought looked menacing and unstable at their reaping have joined Salvatore at the swords station. They were openly mocking him in fact, mimicking his movements with his sword. Salvatore merely grunts and glares at them, not falling prey to their taunts. Salvatore may be smarter than I give him credit for.

Finally, I look over at the weaklings from District 12. I hadn't even bothered trying to remember their names. The two of them were trying and failing at the archery station. Every arrow they shoot either lands twenty feet away from the target or goes in the exact opposite direction they're aiming at. I didn't even know that was possible. Still, I can't write them off yet. They could be acting weak, just like I am.

Suddenly, a loud buzzer rings, interrupting my thoughts. On the screen at my plant station, there's the numbers 50/50 in bold white letters. Oh shoot. I've been too busy observing that I've accidentally sorted all the plants correctly.

_Thanks for reading! Please review!_


	5. Eavesdropping & Deductions

_Suddenly, a loud buzzer rings, interrupting my thoughts. On the screen at my plant station, there's the numbers 50/50 in bold white letters. Oh shoot. I've been too busy observing that I've accidentally sorted all the plants correctly. _

* * *

The instructor smiles widely at me "Congratulations tribute! You're the first one in six years to get all fifty right!"

Joy to the world. Not. I mentally curse myself for messing up, now at least half of the tributes are staring in my direction, surprise written all over their faces.

"Yay!" I clap happily, hugging the instructor. I need to keep the act up, more important now than ever.

"Plants? Where'd you learn that in District 3?" I turn around slowly. Sander stands there, glistening with sweat, his ever-present smirk gracing his lips.

"I-I-I read."

Sander seems to buy into my lame-ass excuse.

"Well what else do you know about?" Sander advances to me, licking his lips "We can use someone like that in our alliance."

At that moment, I'm literally rooted to the spot. I have no idea how to respond to that without completely blowing my cover.

"SANDER!"

I jump two feet high as Sander turns to whoever yelled his name. I look to see it's Jinx who yelled his name. The whole career pack have gathered together, motioning for him to come.

"Well, catch you later." Sander winks at me and lightly jogs over to their glares.

I fight the urge to gag. His antics remind me of a boy we have back home. Even I, the social recluse know about him. People nicknamed him Flit because of his habit of flirting with every girl he sees and then proceeding to dump her and go (or flit) to another.

I silently and stealthily follow him, making sure no one notices. I manage to secure a spot behind a pillar, directly behind the Careers.

"What the hell are you thinking Sander?" Jinx hisses, followed by a muffled slap and a yelp.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sander says, his voice in pain.

"She's referring to how you're flirting with that weakling from 3. Are you trying to ruin our image?" Hayla accuses.

"I wasn't flirting, I was checking out a possible addition to our alliance." Sander protests.

There was a moment of silence, then a storm of cackles and guffaws followed.

"An alliance? With-with her? You've got to be kidding." Kris sputters out between giggles.

Octavian laughs loudly "Since when do we ally with little girls?"

"Alright, alright. That's enough." Salvatore orders, not a trace of laughter in his voice. Everyone immediately falls silent, save for Octavian who's still laughing under his breath.

I was right, Salvatore's the top dog around here. What he says, goes.

"Has anyone found tributes worthy of recruitment? Besides 3." Salvatore added, looking stern.

"How about the siblings from 11?" Hayla volunteers.

"No." Salvatore responds curtly, "They're untrustworthy."

Kris asks "What about that Desmond guy from 3? He's strong."

The others seem to consider this.

"No." Salvatore rejects again, "He doesn't have a large variety of skills and what he does have, we already possess. He'll only be dead weight."

I slap my hand over my mouth to prevent myself from laughing. I'd love to see the look on Desmond's face if he found out they called him dead weight.

"But that's it." Jinx interjects "No one else has what it takes."

"Plus, districts 5, 7 and 10 are allies. They might be a hindrance in the arena." Hayla points out.

Salvatore sighs and runs his hand through his hair "I'll think it over. If you guys find anyone else, notify me at once."

The careers disperse after that, going back to their individual stations. As for me, I head to the camouflage station just so I can mull things over.

So from that conversation, I muse as I paint swirls of yellow onto my palm, I can tell that Octavian's the second-in-command behind Salvatore. Sander holds little authority within the pack. Also, based on the "subtle" flirtatious looks between Kris and Sander, I can safely say something is going on between them. A bit odd though for Kris to go for someone younger, I would've bet on Salvatore. We have an alliance within an alliance. Hayla seems happy to be in the background, she just might be the brains of the operation, along with Salvatore. Jinx is hungry for power, eager to show off her authority within the pack. If Salvatore is ever knocked off the top spot, it's highly probable that a power struggle would ensue between Octavian and Jinx. Though I don't see Octavian as the type of person who would wait for an opportunity. No, if he could, he might just kill off Salvatore himself.

Overall an impressive list of observations. Not to mention, not one of them suspects me. I already have a plan for their demise in the arena, a faint one at best, but I've got time.

That night, I fall asleep almost instantaneously, my victory is so close. I just have to remember to keep my arrogance to a minimum, you never know what might happen tomorrow.

The next day at training, I decide to go to a few weapons stations. I head immediately to the archery station, it's a logical first-priority weapon choice for a weakling. I shakily take ahold of a bow and arrow. Copying my instructor, I take aim and shoot.

I almost grin. Perfect. The arrow lands exactly where I want it to, twelve feet away from the target on the little black scuff mark on the floor.

Laughs emanate from behind me. I turn around, and oh what a surprise, it's Kris and Hayla.

"Why do you even bother?" Hayla asks. The strange thing is she's actually genuine.

I say nothing, instead choosing to scurry to the arrow and bringing it back.

"Here, I'll show you how it's really done." Kris says pointedly. She holds up her bow and shoots. The arrow hits the bulls-eye spot on. Seems she's better at archery than with a spear.

Once again I say nothing. Instead, I speed-walk over to the throwing knives station. The tributes from 11 are there, their beady eyes following me as I walk over.

"Well looky here, if it isn't the weakest tribute in the games this year." Hannah, the girl taunts.

"And that's saying something," Kenton adds "Even the weaklings from 12 didn't try and run away when they were reaped."

I stare at their feet, wide-eyed, refusing to make eye contact. The two of them were blocking the knife rack and there's no way my fake persona would ask them to move.

Hannah teases further "Both stupid and unskilled. Can we ask for better tributes this year?" She laughs, looking over at Kenton "It makes it that much easier for us to kill."

There were a million things I wanted to say right there. For example, why would you both volunteer on the same year? Unless you want your sibling dead, it's an incredibly stupid move. Or why do you bother teasing me? I should be nothing more than a speck of dust in your eyes. Unless of course, you're trying to intimidate every tribute. Do I detect a hint of paranoia? However, I say none of that and continue standing there, tight-lipped.

"Are you deaf? Or mute?" Hannah crouches down and peers at me nastily. I turn away, picking a dummy on the other side of the room to stare at.

"Or both!" Kenton laughs.

When they're met with silence, they seem to deem me uninteresting, choosing instead to wander off to the spear station.

I breathe a sigh of relief and grab ahold of a knife. I purposely take the wrong knife. Someone of my height and build would pick a small, lightweight one. Not the heavy, black one I'm currently fake attempting to lift off the rack.

"You're picking the wrong knife." Georgie says from behind me, a smile present in her eyes. Next to her is her district partner, whose name I have still yet to remember.

I smile feebly at them "Hey."

"This is Fredrick." Georgie introduces, gesturing to him. He nods in my direction. I had briefly watched his reaping, deeming him as a small threat. He has a mother and a father, as well as two younger brothers. He's middle-class at best, probably worked at the grain factories. His strengths are likely strength and he's not dumb too. A good alliance for Georgie.

I turn back to the knife rack and put the black knife down.

"Here," Georgie offers, giving me a small dainty silver one "Use this one."

I mutter a "thanks" and tried throwing it on the target a couple times. I miss on purpose each time until Georgie and Fredrick try and help me with my stance and throwing posture.

They go through every weapons station with me like this. They weren't exactly experts but I manage to convince them they've helped me improve.

"Thanks guys!" I say at the end, smiling widely at them, "You've helped me loads!"

Fredrick laughs and pats my head "No problem Alice."

From then on, we were inseparable. The three of us spend all our time together, we eat lunch together, we train together etc. They've started to grow on me, much like the parenting figures I never had. Though I keep telling myself they're my enemies, that you can't feel anything once you're in the arena.

_Thanks for reading! Please review :)_


	6. Gamemakers & Scores

Finally, the individual training sessions are here. Where the gamemakers evaluate you and give you a score from 1 to 12.

"What are you going to show them Alice?" Georgie whispers, her hands fidgeting endlessly.

"I'm not sure. Maybe I'd sort some plants, do some camouflage. I'll try knife throwing." I say, my voice dripping with nerves.

Georgie smiles and squeezes my hand reassuringly despite her own nervousness.

"What will you show them Georgie?"

"I'll throw a spear or two, do the obstacle course." Georgie whispers, her eyes flitting around "I'm trying to go for a variety."

I nod and squeeze her hand back "Fredrick?"

Fredrick was sweating profusely, he wipes his hands on his pants "I'll throw some weights around, maybe spar with the instructors."

"District 1" A mechanical voice booms over our room.

Jinx stands up, oozing confidence as she walks into the Training Room. She comes back out only six minutes and thirty two seconds later, a smirk etched permanently on her face. Salvatore quickly stands up and walks into the Training Room, his face expressionless. He comes out the same way, nodding at Kris to go in.

Kris was in and out just as fast as Jinx and Salvatore, smiling widely at the rest of us. We all shift uneasily.

Then, Octavian gets up and saunters into the Training Room. We all wait, and wait...and wait. Finally, forty three minutes and fifty seconds later, he comes back out. His expression as unfathomable as a slab of rock.

I slowly stand up and make my way in shakily.

"Good luck!" Georgie calls after me. I don't respond.

The moment I enter the training room, I see they've done virtually nothing to make it different from usual training. It's just that the obstacle course has been moved to the center of the room so it would be easy for the Gamemakers to see as opposed to where it was before.

The Gamemakers all look at me with little to no interest, they've clearly watched me during training and know of my lack of skills.

The Head Gamemaker Lilliana smiles down at me faintly "You may begin."

I nod and head first to the edible plants station. They should've seen my perfect score during training when I messed up. It's natural I'd want to show my strengths first. When I get there, I sort the plants quickly. Though I make sure to get a few wrong. I end up with a score of 44/50. I look up at the Gamemakers who were nodding at me.

I bite my lip and look around. I can't get a training score of too high or my plan will blow over. I decide on the knife throwing station. There, I purposely miss all the targets. The knives either flew to the walls behind them or landed ten feet in front of them.

Though to make sure it doesn't look too fake, I make a knife go into the outermost rim of the target. I proceed to make a big show of it, jumping around in joy.

"Thank you." Lilliana says crisply "You may go." The Gamemakers all look disapprovingly down at me, pity and contempt clear on their faces. I do a victory dance inside my head.

I exit the room, a couple tears running down my face. The moment I enter the waiting room, Georgie practically tackles me "What happened? Why are you crying? What did you do? Are you alright?"

Before I can answer, Desmond beats me to it.

"Well of course she's not alright, look at her." He says smirking as he pushes open the door to the Training Room "Can't say I'm surprised though."

That's when I run from the room, silently weeping.

The next morning, I'm roused with a bucket of ice water.

I snap awake immediately, my hands and feet leaping into combat mode. Then I stop myself just in time to realize it's just Wiress.

"Come on Alice, you're going to miss it!" Wiress cries at me, pulling me off my bed.

"Miss what?"

"The training scores of course! Don't you want to know what you got?" She exclaims. She drags me to the living room and plop me down on the sofa in front of the TV. Desmond is already there, chewing on a piece of bread.

He smirks at me knowingly, as if to say _You're going to get a bad score and you know it._

I turn away from him and to the TV screen. Caesar Flickerman is just starting to announce District 1. Jinx and Salvatore both received 10s. Kris got an 8. Wow, thought she'd get a 9. The gamemakers must be tough this year. Octavian got an 11. What the hell did he do in there? Desmond got a 7.

I bite my cheek to prevent myself from laughing. Desmond roars angrily and slams the wall next to the TV.

"Calm down Desmond! A 7 isn't that bad!" Beetee reasons with him.

Desmond punches the wall again "Yes, it is! How the hell will I get in the Careers now? Are the Gamemakers blind?"

I zone him out and look back at the TV. Caesar is just starting to announce my score.

"Alice Willow, with a score of 3!"

3? I frown, I was aiming for a 2. The plants must have boosted my score more than I thought they would.

Beetee smiles at me "A 3 isn't that bad."

"To be honest, I thought you would get a 2." Wiress adds.

Beetee turns around and glares at her.

I smile at them "No, I'm happy with my score. I wasn't expecting anything high anyways."

We all look back at the screen. Hayla was just given a score of 9. Expected, you can't really show intelligence. Sander got a 9 too. Expected as well. Districts 5, 6, 7 and 8 all receive scores varying from 4 to 7. Then, Fredrick's face comes on. He receives a 6. Not bad, right in the middle. Then, it's Georgie's turn. I find myself riveted to the screen. She gets a score of 7. I jump to my feet, clapping happily. That's an amazing score for a 15 year old from District 9.

"What?" Desmond yells, making us all jump "That bitch gets the same score as me? She must have been hiding something!"

I roll my eyes and turn away. District 10 both get 4's. Then it's District 11. Kenton gets a score of 9. Hannah gets a score of 10. Wow, they're even better than I expected. Finally, District 12 comes on with scores of 4's and the program ends.

This year's tributes are much stronger than normal. Instead of the usual of two or three 10's, this year we have three 10's and an 11! I quickly rearrange my Tributes To Watch Our For list.

Octavian

Salvatore

Hannah

Kenton (He's only up this high because of his affiliation with #3)

Hayla

Jinx (Too much brawn, too little brains, very easy to outsmart)

Sander

Desmond

Kris

District 7 boy

District 5 girl

District 7 girl

Fredrick (Not sure if I can trust him just yet)

District 6 girl

District 8 boy

District 6 boy

District 10 boy

District 5 boy

District 10 girl

District 8 girl

District 12 boy

District 12 girl

Georgie (Because I know she won't hurt me)


	7. Revelations & Interviews

After that, Wiress quickly leads me to my room while Beetee leads Desmond to his.

"Right." Wiress says as she settles down on a chair "Now that the training is over, we need to decide on an angle for you in the interviews."

"What do you have in mind?" I ask.

"Well, innocent is an obvious one." Wiress says "Once the Capitol thinks they know you, that's who you become."

I look at her for a moment "What are you implying?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm implying." Wiress answers cryptically. We sit there for a while, staring at each other. Does she know I'm not the innocent girl everyone is making me out to be? How? When? Where?

Wiress laughs suddenly "You look like you've seen a ghost. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I will say that this is a very clever thing you're doing."

"How?" Is all I can manage as I stare at her.

"This morning. Don't think I didn't notice that when I woke you up you were pretty much _this_ close from strangling my neck." Wiress says, amused.

I blink at her "That's it? But I stopped myself before I even got close to you."

"I saw that fighter instinct." Wiress says calmly "Something I've never seen in any District 3 tributes I've mentored. I truly believe you can win these games, not on your own though."

"What do you-"

Wiress interrupts "Now tell me quickly and quietly, what are your skills? What can you do?"

I stare at her "Why should I trust you? Who's to say you don't turn around and tell Beetee and Desmond the moment you're alone?"

Wiress laughs "You can't know. But it's either trust me now or die in the arena later. What if you're extremely skilled in a single weapon and it's nowhere to be found? Who will get you that weapon? None other than me of course."

"Alright, I see your point." I nod, deciding to trust her just this once.

I lower my voice to a whisper "I'm skilled in swords. Not small dainty ones, big heavy ones-"

"What's the specific sword?" Wiress asks.

I pause, wondering if that's too much information "That's not necessary right now. I'm also skilled in archery, nun chucks, daggers, both throwing and combative. Plus I'm extremely experienced in gymnastics mixed with martial arts."

"Where'd you learn all that?"

"At this warehouse back home. Sometimes I'd train in the forest." I answer "I trained at night so no one knows except for my little sister."

Wiress stands up to pace around the room "In short, your skilled in both long and short distance. You've also got a fairly sharp brain in there."

She pauses "Any hobbies then? Things you simply like doing?"

I was about to shake my head, then I realize "The harp. I like playing the harp. It's one of the few things that keep me sane."

Wiress nods approvingly "Good." She stops suddenly "You could have won even without this pretending to be weak strategy. Why'd you do it?"

"It wasn't just so I can win. It's so I can show the Capitol up, that I'm not just a pawn in their game. That I can think and move for myself." I say with absolute sincerity.

Wiress cracks a smile "I'm liking the real you much more than the one I've been experiencing up till now."

I smile "Now lets get down to business. We need an interview angle you say?"

The interviews were the next day. I had to get up much earlier in the morning in order to get ready. Only ten minutes after I got up, I was ushered into the dressing room. Xavier glares at me as I walk in.

I don't feel the intense hatred I felt for him before though. After his costume design in the Chariot Ride, a new feeling has blossomed. Respect.

"There you are." He drawls "I was starting to think you'd run off in fear of ever seeing me again."

"Of course not Xavier." I smile bubbly up at him.

Xavier seems taken aback by my new attitude. He soon shakes it off and unzips a black bag to reveal my interview dress.

Inside the bag, there's a strapless dress, the hem reaches what would be right above my knees. However, the fabric itself seems to be made of purple glows of lights.

"Go on, touch it." Xavier encourages.

I reach out a tentative finger and lightly touch the dress. Instantly, in the exact spot where I touched it, a small circle of purple light comes up and then fades away.

I gasp, speechless.

"The dress works much like a heat-sensor. The moment it senses heat, a glow comes up. Only for the upper-half of the dress of course. The lower-half is lit up on it's own." Xavier explains.

They fit the dress on me and I look into the mirror. The dress is much more vibrant once it's touching my skin due to the ready source of heat. I touch it wonderingly. The bottom-half of the dress is a tulle, billowing out around me.

The team then works on my hair and makeup. My hair is left down again, except they take the strands framing my face and pin it up. I don't understand why at first but then Xavier fits a feathery black eye mask over my face, covering the area around my eyes.

"It brings out your eyes." He says simply. Indeed it does, my eyes appear much more vibrant with the black surroundings.

Finally, they fit on a pair of plain black ballet flats with the strips of satin twirled around my leg to reach my upper calf.

I instantly see the allusion. I look much like The Black Swan. The feathers in my eye mask, the ballet flats, the tulle. Except I look almost magical with the glowing purple lights.

I look up at Xavier questioningly "Why The Black Swan?"

He smiles "Ever heard of The Black Swan Theory? It describes an event where there's an outlier, lying outside a realm of regular expectations. Leaving a major impact on the observer, or in this case, the audience."

I almost hug him, then remember our love-hate relationship "Thank you Xavier."

With that, I was whisked out to the waiting room outside the stage with all the other tributes.

As usual, I'm one of the last ones to arrive. Everyone else were dressed much alike me, in beautiful gowns and tuxes. I glance over at Desmond, he's dressed in a very elegant black satin tux. The only thing similar between our outfits is that he's also wearing a black feather eye mask.

I then look at Georgie. I almost laugh out loud. She was dressed in a cute flouncy dress with the distinct color of freshly harvested wheat. She looks both funny and adorable at the same time.

"Hey Alice!" Georgie waves at me "You look beautiful, are you a ballerina?"

Laughing, I do a mock twirl and bow in front of her.

We watch the interviews together. Jinx goes first, taking on the overconfident, cocky angle. The crowd cheers wildly for her. Then it's Salvatore's turn. He seems to take on a strong leadership angle, asserting that he has both brains and brawn. Next, it's Kris. I don't even bother guessing hers, it's sexy all the way. Then it's Octavian. His angle seems to be smart and vicious. In fact, I can't describe him any other way.

I'm next. Surprisingly, I don't seem to have any nerves. I simply take a deep breath and mount the stage.

"Next, we have District Three's Alice Willow!" Caesar announces. The crowd screams wildly, seeming to remember me as the amazing girl they saw on the chariot. Not as the girl who got the 3 for her training score.

I walk on daintily, smiling and waving at the crowd. Then, Caesar and I settle into our seats.

"So Alice, how are you liking the Capitol so far?" He asks.

"Oh." I pause and giggle "It's beautiful! I've never seen so much people in one place before!"

The crowd titters with me, totally sucked into my performance.

Caesar raises his eyebrows "Oh, did you lead a quiet life back home in district three?"

I nod "Pretty much."

"Care to elaborate?" Caesar gestures, smiling amusedly. The crowd laughs again.

I blush "Oh. Well I live with my younger sister Violet. She's the only family I have left. We just try and make the best of what we have."

The crowd lets out a stream of "aw's."

Caesar looks shocked "You mean you live only with your sister? That must've been hard."

I nod "Yeah pretty much. Though after all these years, we have this whole system worked out. Where she cooks and cleans and I go out to find money. We've gotten used to it over time."

Caesar looks at me sympathetically before moving on "Well, what are you most looking forward to in the arena?"

I pause, that's an odd question to ask. Caesar's never asked anyone this question before. I look up briefly at the balcony where President Snow is residing.

The moment we make eye contact I know he set me up for this. He wants to see how I'd react. If my innocence is just an act.

I lift up my black feather eye mask, moving it up slightly so it rests on my forehead.

"Getting to see the arena of course!" I say, beaming at the audience "I'm really hoping for the arena some years back in the 52nd Games."

"Oh, the fantasy land one! Yes, that does seem awfully fitting for you." Caesar smiles at me.

I laugh "I won't be able to bring myself to kill the talking animals though! I don't understand why all the tributes killed them whenever they saw one. Why can't they just make friends? The animals talk for a reason right?"

At this, the audience bursts out laughing, as does Caesar. I pretend to look around confused, as if I truly believe in what I just said. It's obvious why they can't make friends, the animals were all mutts. Behind their cute fluffy exterior, they have razor sharp fangs and claws and would pounce on you without a second thought.

Caesar chuckles deeply, wiping tears from his eyes "Yes, I see your point. Why can't they just make friends?"

With that, Caesar holds my hand up and announces my departure. The crowd goes wild, throwing roses and chocolates at me. I manage to grab all of them, smiling and curtsying as I walk off the stage.

"That was brilliant!" Flavia exclaims, grabbing me the moment I get off stage.

"You think so?" I smile up at her, sniffing some of the roses.

"Yes, definitely." Beetee strides up to us "You're the only one to receive gifts from the audience so far."

Wiress adds "If the capitol loves you, the sponsors love you. I bet we already have sponsors lined up around the block!"

I was laughing when I feel someone tug my arm. I turn around and see it's Salvatore. My brows knit together but then he whispers "Go to the roof at midnight. We have to talk to you." We? I look behind him, all the careers are standing there staring at us.

Before I can say anything, he walks away, joining the careers again.

They need to talk to me? What can they possibly want to talk to me about? Maybe some kind of ambush against Desmond and they need my intel? Or they want to threaten me again by hanging me off the roof? Either way, I know I can't miss this. Whatever they're going to say, it better be good.


	8. Careers & Arena

**Thanks to my reviewers!**

**Buttons301: I totally agree with you, I feel like I'm creating a mary sue :( But it's ok, her weakness will come later on :) Thanks for reviewing by the way!**

**songwriter16: yayy thanks so much. It took me forever to come up with the costume haha.**

**Reviewer: haha maybe, maybe not :)**

"Are you sure she won't be too chicken to come up?"

That was Jinx. Presently, I'm hiding just behind the metal door that leads onto the roof. I have no idea what to expect when I go in so this is the least I can do to find out.

"No, she'll come." That's Sander.

"What makes you so sure?" Kris asks nasally.

"Because it's either come now or be killed by us later." Salvatore says in a matter-of-fact manner.

Before I can ponder further, the door wrenches open. A blast of cold hair slams into my body as I leap back.

"I knew someone was behind the door." Octavian says, looking down at me.

Hayla stands up "So you did come."

I walk in nervously as Octavian slams the door shut behind me.

"What-"

"We want you to join our alliance." Salvatore states, his cold blue eyes staring straight into mine.

I stand there gaping at Salvatore. Me, join their alliance? That's the last thing I expected them to say. Have they forgotten how they laughed at me those days during training? Is this some kind of trick? Though why would they bother tricking me? I should be easy kill in their eyes? Unless they figured me out?

I stand there panicking, my eyes darting around for an escape route.

"This isn't a trick." Hayla affirms.

I pause for a while "Why do you want me to join?" The confusion clear in my voice.

"Well, we were less than eager at first." Jinx snickers "But then Sander convinced us." I look over at Sander. Once again, confusion. Why does he want me to join so much?

"You'll get us a lot of sponsors, you can find us plants if we ever run out of food and-" Sander stops and smiles wickedly "You'll be great...entertainment."

I gulp visibly "En-en-entertainment?"

"So you'll join right?" Jinx says as she stands up, dusting herself off.

Once again, I have no idea what to do. If I do what I want to and say no, the careers will no doubt target me in the arena. Thus rendering my plan from the beginning useless as the whole point of it is to remain unnoticed and underestimated. Though if I say yes, I'll be going against all my morals. It'll be like betraying myself.

"She'll join."

I jump and spin around to see who said that. It was Wiress, who was probably listening outside the door just like I was.

"Excellent." Salvatore says, he turns to me "We'll see you in the arena tomorrow." With that, all six careers got up and left the roof.

Wiress and I stand there in silence, the wind whistling in our ears.

"Why did you do that?" I ask after a while, saying it so quietly you can barely hear me.

"I did what any mentor would do." Wiress answers "I know you had no idea how to answer, but as a mentor, the choice was clear."

"I never intended to join the careers." My voice rising to a scream "This goes against all my morals! Now I'm just like them!"

"Them?" Wiress asks softly.

"Yes, them! Them who kill for pleasure, them who have no conscience!" I crouch down, trembling with anger.

After a while, I feel Wiress crouch down next to me and put her arm over my shoulders. We stay like that for what feels like the whole night before I feel her carry me back to my bedroom.

The next morning, I wake up with a headache. Today's the day I'm going in the arena. With the careers. I repeat that to myself over and over, all throughout breakfast. It seems surreal, all those days I spent preparing for the arena. It all starts today. I was expecting something more, not just a raging headache.

Desmond and I were escorted to the hovercraft by Wiress and Beetee.

"Do your best guys." Beetee advises as we reach the hovercraft "Don't let me down."

I sniffle and cry a bit while Desmond appears to be nervous, fidgeting endlessly with his shirt.

"Just make sure you get me sponsors." Desmond says, then turns to glare at me "Not all of us are in the careers, you know?"

I almost roll my eyes. Ever since we broke it to him this morning that I joined the careers, Desmond has taken every opportunity to criticize me. Not that I blame him, he tried his hardest to get in, yet here I am, a twelve year old crybaby upstaging him.

With a final goodbye kiss to Wiress and Beetee, the two of us board the hovercraft along with the other tributes.

When we arrive, we were all separated into dressing rooms. Except these dressing rooms look much more metal and cold, compared to the colorful, spacious ones in the capitol. Once I walk in, Xavier puts a jacket on me and zips it up halfway.

I look at my outfit, the waterproof jacket hints at a possibly wet or snowy climate but the pants suggest a hot, fiery climate. Oh no, it's not going to be one of those four season arenas like in the 32nd and 61st games will there? I rather there just be one climate, it's much easier to deal with.

"You're ready." Xavier says, looking at me.

I nod, looking frightened "Thanks for all your help."

Xavier only nods back and pats me lightly on the shoulder "Good luck."

I then board the metal plate, putting my hands on the glass once it starts rising. This is it, I'm going in the arena.

When I see the arena, I feel my eyes widen slightly. Remember what I said in the interview? About how I wanted a fantasy land arena? Well this arena appears to be the exact opposite. Oh the irony.

The arena, like I feared is split into four sections. Though not in seasons, in colors. The section directly in front of me is black. When I look closer, I can see that it's actually a forest full of dead trees. It looks like a ghost town. The section on the left of that is yellow, the brightest color here. It's a field of wheat, the wheat stretching so high I doubt you'd be able to see sky once you venture in there. No doubt there are monsters lurking around in there. Then, the section across from yellow is white. A white snow land is what it appears to be, I can even see snowy mountains in the distance. The section I'm standing in is red. This must be the worst section of all. As I look around, the gamemakers obviously tried to replicate hell in a way. Flames burn in the distance, growls seem to emanate from the red forest and a volcano lies in the distance. I gulp, what if that volcano erupts at one point? There's no way we can survive that.

The cornucopia is none of these colors, instead it's brown. The dead brown grass fills the cornucopia. The supplies are spread around the cornucopia in piles. I can see the better supplies are closer to the cornucopia. I'm willing to bet that the best supplies are inside the cornucopia though.

This arena is terrifying.

I can see similar looks of horror on the other tribute's faces as they look around the arena. This must be the worst arena in decades. Though it still can't compare to that haunted mansion arena a couple years back. Where all the tributes basically lived in this gigantic mansion and actual ghosts and monsters lurked in practically every room.

I whimper a couple times to keep up my image, then I look around me. The district ten tribute stands on the left of me while the district six tribute stands on my right. I can see Georgie standing three left of my plate. Kris and Jinx are next to each other on my right, around three plates in between us. I don't see the rest of my alliance, they must be in the black section, behind the cornucopia.

Georgie sees me looking and smiles before turning back to the cornucopia. Her eyes set on the pile of supplies closest to her.

I turn back in front of me, the countdown has just reached 10. My breath hitches, I think of all the people watching this. Violet, my district, Wiress, Beetee, Flavia, Xavier, oh and the capitol. Who can forget them? They're the whole reason why I'm standing here, watching the seconds count down.

The timer reaches 4 and I lean forward, curling my hands into fists.

Then, the gong sounds and I shoot off my plate, running at 80% speed. I look around, most people are behind me. Georgie has just reached the closest pile to her, I watch her grab a backpack, gesture to Fredrick and then they both take off to the black section. Desmond appears to be running to the best pile of supplies, right smack in the middle of the place. I gulp, if he's trying to kill himself, that's an excellent way to do it.

I quickly turn back around and continue running to the cornucopia. No one notices me running past, they're all preoccupied with another tribute. I almost smile, the benefits of my plan is starting to show up.

Jinx is holding a couple knives, taking on two tributes from 5 and 10 at the same time. Kris has gotten ahold of a bow and arrow, she's aiming at the girl tribute from 6. Salvatore is running around, snapping necks as he goes. Sander is chasing after the 12 tributes, nearing the yellow section. I look over to the other side and I nearly laugh. Octavian appears to be just standing there, taking in the scene. Though he easily snaps the neck of anyone who comes near him. He looks so out of place it's laughable. I make a mental note to find out how he got that 11 in training later on.

Averting my eyes from Octavian, I grab a jacket lined with knives and daggers as I go. Finally, once I reach the cornucopia, I almost run straight into Hayla.

"Holy-" Hayla whirls around, trident in hand, her eyes blazing.

I immediately back up a few steps, forcing my eyes to widen.

"Oh, it's just you." Hayla sighs in relief and lowers her trident. Was she scared? That's odd, the Hayla I've experienced up till now has been nothing but cold-hearted. Though the real question is who she's scared of.

"What does it look like out there?"

"Killing, lots of blood." My eyes tear up.

"Oh no." Hayla groans "Is crying all you can do? Make yourself useful and start helping me sort these supplies."

I wipe my tears away and look at what Hayla's done so far. I have to admit, it's impressive. In the space of about 8 minutes, Hayla has sorted a portion of the things inside the cornucopia into three piles, food, medical supplies and miscellaneous. She left the weapons where they were originally, I guess she thought there's too much weapons to bother sorting them.

The two of us start sorting silently, ignoring the screams of bloodshed and cannon booms outside.

Finally, after about ten minutes, the screams stop, the cannons stop as well. Hayla and I peek outside the cornucopia. Everyone appears fine, simply catching their breath. That's when I see Salvatore.

His arm has a large gash in it, with great amounts of blood flowing out. He was swaggering over to us, managing to glare at us at the same time "Fix this up, will you?"

So that's how we end up all crowded around Salvatore as Hayla and I clean and bandage his arm.

"That guy from 3 better watch out." He growls as I dab the wound lightly with antiseptic.

Jinx raises her eyebrows "That Desmond guy did that to you?"

"Yeah." Sander nods "I saw him sneak up behind our leader here and attempt to stab his heart through."

Salvatore grunts "Coward."

"Has anyone seen those 11 tributes?" Kris asks "I tried looking for them but they weren't at the cornucopia."

"You don't think they just ran off do you?" Jinx ponders.

"No." Octavian states "I saw them wait on the edge of that red section. They killed the tribute from 7 and then grabbed the supplies he took. They went in not long after."

"You mean someone actually went in that fiery hell?" Hayla asks incredulously "I was so sure everyone would steer clear of that place."

"Great." Kris groans "Now we have to hunt in there too."

Sander interrupts, clearing his throat "So, how many did you guys kill?"

"2." Jinx replies.

"1." Kris says, almost proudly.

"1." Octavian shrugs, we all look at him curiously.

"1." Salvatore deadpans.

"2." Sander smirks.

We all turn to Hayla, who shrugs "I got none."

Then they all look at me before realizing their mistake and moving on.

So that's 8 dead, 16 left. 6 of which, I'm allied with.

"Are we the only alliance besides district 11?" Kris asks.

"No, districts 5, 7 and 10 are allied remember?" Jinx reminds her "Plus, I think the district 9 tributes are allied."

"You trained with them right?" Salvatore asks me, "What can they do?"

Everybody looks at me and I stop bandaging his arm for a moment. What should I say? I can't give away their strengths.

"Georgie, the girl, can fight close combat." I lie, "You should always keep distance from her." That would give her unbelievable advantage considering her talent with archery but I neglect to say that.

"Fredrick's great with long distance, he uses spears really well." I lie again.

"Wait, wasn't he training with swords a lot during training?" Kris asks, wrinkling her nose.

"Oh, his mentor told him to hide his real skills until he gets to the arena." I say smoothly.

They seem to accept that. Then I notice Octavian staring at me, his face expressionless. Then it hits me, Octavian spent all the training days observing like me. There's no way he won't know of their talents. Oh great, first twenty minutes into the games and I'm already busted.

I wait for the blow but Octavian doesn't say anything, he simply looks away.

"Lets start setting up." Salvatore orders as I finish up bandaging his arm "Girls, you guys sort the supplies. Guys, we'll set up the tents."

We all nod and head to our respective stations. I'm in charge of sorting the miscellaneous, I guess they think I'm untrustworthy with anything else.

Interestingly, I find several useful things. Such as a bracelet made of pure titanium, which would definitely come in handy for blocking a sword. Then, I find a small stemless red rose. I inspect it for a while, wondering why on earth the gamemakers would provide us with a flower. Then I see it, a small green light on one of the flower petals. No doubt this flower is some sort of mini grenade. I pin it in my hair, the red a striking contrast against my black hair.

"What are you doing?" Jinx glares "Sorry to break it to you but we're not playing dress up right now."

Hayla laughs, looking up from a pack of band-aids she's currently inspecting "Jeez Jinx, calm your-"

"Alright guys." Salvatore interrupts "We're done sorting for now, gather over here." He orders, standing over the weapons pile.

"What now?" Octavian asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We need to pick our weapons." Salvatore asserts "Try to not pick the same thing, I want to maintain versatility."

Jinx rolls her eyes "Throw me the daggers." Salvatore picks up a belt lined with twenty different daggers and tosses it at her.

He then looks at Octavian, who nods "The sword." Salvatore picks up a thin silver one.

"No, that big one over there." Octavian says smiling. Salvatore presses his lips together in a thin line. Evidently he had wanted the same one. Though he picked it up without complaint and passes it to him.

Salvatore then quickly grabs two large black swords for himself. I can't help but be surprised, he fights with two swords? Then to my relief, he tucks the first sword into his belt. No one knows but I have a serious disadvantage towards someone who uses two swords. Mostly because I like using two swords myself.

"I want the trident." Hayla states.

"Hey, no fair! I wanted that trident." Sander argues.

Salvatore shrugs "She asked first." He passes her a large blue trident.

"Fine." Sander grumbles, "Give me the spears." He was passed three spears.

Kris purses her lips "Bow and arrow please." She says smugly, smirking at me. Obviously referring to that moment back in the training center.

Then Salvatore turns to me.

"No way. She gets a weapon?" Jinx asks incredulously.

My surprise matches hers, I've assumed I'll be weaponless.

"Why?" Octavian asks "Do you feel threatened by her?"

Salvatore chuckles quietly. Jinx turns red and glares at the ground, obviously furious.

"So, weapon?" Salvatore asks me expectantly.

"Ummm." I ponder, looking at the weapons. I'm already wearing the jacket of knives I picked up in the bloodbath but no one knows that. Plus it won't hurt to get a few more weapons. Then, I see a pair of swords and my eyes widen.


	9. Swords & Peanuts

**I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! I was super busy with schoolwork and then my computer got broken and I had to wait a long time for the new one but even so, I finally uploaded it! So so sorry and I promise it won't happen again :):)**

**Also, for those who ship her with Octavian, I cannot agree more! I was worried at first whether anyone would like him since he's so aloof but clearly that's not the case :) **

**So just to make up to you guys, I'll upload 2 chapters at once! Hope that helps. **

Next to the maces, there lies two stiletto swords. Stiletto swords are my favorite type of sword, though I don't use one like they're meant to. I find that fighting with one in each hand works better for me. They're a very rare type of weapon, with a long slender blade and a needle-point. I didn't expect to find it in the arena.

"Well?" Salvatore urges.

"What, don't see a weapon you're good at?" Kris asks teasingly.

"Can I see those two swords over there?" I ask nervously, twitching.

They all look at me skeptically "You use swords?" Sander asks.

"Well, no. But those swords look pretty." I explain confidently, opening my eyes wide to achieve maximum naivety effect.

They all stifle a laugh as Salvatore wordlessly passes the two swords over to me. I feel a rush go through me as I grip the handles. These swords are beautiful, better than any sword I've trained with back home. One of the two swords is midnight black, the blade dotted with ruby gems. The other sword is blindingly white, the blade dotted with green gems instead. I'm dying to swing them around for experimentation but there's no way I can do that here without blowing my cover. Instead, I fit them both in a sword holder behind my back in a criss-cross pattern.

"All right." Salvatore says expertly, clapping his hands "Now that that's sorted out, lets get ready. We're going hunting for tributes in ten minutes."

Everyone immediately starts stocking their bags with supplies. I walk over to the edge of the cornucopia and sit down, looking at my new swords.

"You're not as dumb as you're pretending to be." A voice says from behind me. I whip around, Octavian is kneeling down next to me, his expression unreadable.

Oh shoot, he knows about Georgie and Fredrick.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." I stammer.

"Oh, but I think you do." He says, his eyes twinkling menacingly.

I say nothing and he continues "You do realize your little lie back there can very well cost us our lives."

Of course I realize that. I also realize you're swinging around your sword like you're going to chop my head off. I look at him fearfully, edging away.

He laughs lowly "I'm not going to kill you now three because you actually prove a tiny bit useful to me. But I won't count on a next time."

With that, he gets up and saunters back to the others.

I'd like to see you try, I think to myself. But what does he mean by me proving useful to him? Does he mean Georgie killing the others? I shudder, what a crazy guy.

"Alright." Salvatore calls "Let's go. Hayla, you stay and guard."

"What?" Hayla protests "Why me?"

Salvatore doesn't answer, he just gestures for the rest of us to follow him. I have no idea why I'm going too, perhaps they need plant identification on the way?

We go to the black section first, considering most of the tributes went in there during the bloodbath. It's just as horrible and scary as the outside made it seem. The dead trees seem to make sounds, whispering as we go by. Occasionally, we hear growls around us.

Without knowing, I grab Sander's arm, clinging to it like a little girl. He smirks but says nothing, though I notice Kris glowering at me from the front.

We hunt for what seems like hours, no tributes turn up. Then finally, we come across a small clearing and a tribute appears to have set up camp there.

Salvatore presses his fingers to his lips as we edge around. Then, we see him. The district 8 tribute, sitting there cozily with a pile of leaves sewn together as a blanket.

He looks up at us and I swear, he turns ten shades paler.

"No, please don't kill me!" He pleas immediately, taking in the bloodthirsty expressions on Jinx and Sander's faces.

I bite my lip, looking up nervously at the others.

"Sorry." Jinx murmurs evilly "Your time is up." She moves towards him but Salvatore holds her back "I'll do it. We don't have time for you to torture him."

Jinx looks disappointed but steps back nonetheless. Salvatore holds down the screaming tribute and stabs him in the stomach. I look away, whimpering, crying as I do so. The cannon goes off. 16 left.

That cannon must have warned the other tributes in the black section because we turn up with nothing else after four more hours of hunting.

Finally, we head back to camp, the sun already set by the time we get back.

Salvatore was evidently grumpy, shutting himself in his tent the moment we get back. Though not before growling at me to make myself useful and make some dinner.

Dinner? I have no idea where in this dead arena I can find berries or fish or something of that sort. I scamper around the edges of the sections. I would go in to look further but I don't think my scaredy-cat persona would do that. Though there must be food somewhere, there's no way the gamemakers would just let us starve to death.

That's when it hits me what a colossal idiot I am. I'm in the Careers for christ sake! We have plenty of food in the cornucopia. I groan and put my face in my hands.

Quickly, I start walking back to the cornucopia. Though I can't help but wonder, as I look back at the black section, where do the other tributes find their food?

I open some cans of tomato beans, sardines and some crackers. Then, I boil some pasta and pour the beans on top of it. I look at it proudly, my very own invention. Perhaps this will start a trend in the capitol? Then, I arrange the food prettily on a large tree stump, even putting forth the effort to place a couple flowers here and there. This much is necessary so I don't get kicked out of the Careers.

"Dinner's ready." I call giddily, rousing them out of their tents.

"Wow." Jinx comments dryly as she arrives "Fancy."

"What is this?" Hayla peers curiously at the pasta "Is it a district three thing?"

"No. I just needed some sauce for the pasta and the beans seemed fine." I smile sweetly.

Salvatore and Octavian both sit down wordlessly and start eating.

"Wow, not bad." Sander comments, the others murmur in agreement. Even Kris, which is saying something considering she hates my guts.

"Didn't you say in your interview that your sister was the one who cooked?" Hayla asks.

I look up "Yeah but canned food isn't that hard to figure out. Though my sister always made an effort, like shaping mash potatoes with gravy to look like steak."

"It looks like you made an effort too." Salvatore points out "You put flowers here."

We eat in silence for a moment.

"So what happened to your parents?" Jinx asks point-blank. I freeze as everyone looks up at me curiously. Clearly, they all wanted to know but didn't want to ask.

I tense up "They were electrocuted."

"Being electrocuted can kill you?" Kris asks, scrunching up her nose "Doesn't it just give you little static shocks?"

"Kris!" Hayla hisses, looking over at me nervously.

I shrug and look back down at my food "I don't really remember them. You all don't have to look at me like that."

They instantly drop their looks of pity and turn back to their food.

"So lets play a game." Hayla proposes "So we can get to know each other better."

Jinx snorts "Why?"

"No, it's a good idea." Salvatore nods "Maybe it can even help our teamwork later on in this place."

"What kind of game?" I ask, excited.

"How about we just go around this circle, naming our hobbies and one interesting fact about ourselves." Hayla suggests.

We all nod and Hayla starts.

"I like swimming and playing with my pet fishes." Hayla states "One interesting fact about myself is that I once got in trouble with the peacekeepers for stealing some books."

We all look at her surprised, then Kris starts.

"My hobbies are sewing and shopping." Kris purrs "An interesting fact is that I got all the boys in my class to ask me out last year."

Then it's Salvatore's turn "My hobby is training. My interesting fact is that I had to beat out fourteen guys in order to volunteer for this."

Next is Jinx, who sighs loudly before starting "My hobby is knives. My interesting fact is that this is not my real hair color."

We all look at her jet black hair. Seeing as she's from district one, her real hair color is probably blond.

Sander starts "My hobbies are swimming, fishing and girls. My interesting fact is that I was born before my parents got married."

Octavian hesitates a while before starting "My hobby is training. I don't have a interesting fact."

"What?" Hayla protests "We're all supposed to give one."

Octavian shrugs "Well I don't have one."

So it's my turn now.

I smile brightly at them "My hobby is reading. My interesting fact is that I have purple eyes."

Jinx scoffs at me "We already know that."

I look at her questioningly.

"The point of this activity is to learn new things about each other." Hayla explains.

"Oh." I say dumbly "Well then I also don't have an interesting fact."

I neglect to tell them that I'm skilled in every weapon known to man, or that I hate all their guts, or that my parents were leading a rebellion against the capitol or even that I like playing the harp. It's way too personal to reveal in front of these people.

"Alright. Lets go to sleep. Octavian and Alice, since you two didn't play the game properly, you guys are taking the first watch." Salvatore says, getting up to go to his tent.

That's odd, why would Salvatore ask the two of us to guard? He shouldn't be trusting us that much yet. Octavian's the one poised to take control and I'm the newest addition to the careers. Shouldn't it be common sense to not trust us? Especially together? Either Salvatore is dumber than I thought or he and Octavian have some kind of unspoken agreement.

Octavian and I move to take opposite sides of the cornucopia "Alice, if you hear anything, whistle and I'll come over."

I nod and sit cross-legged at the front of the cornucopia while he takes the back. After ten minutes or so of silence, the anthem plays. I sit up straight to look at the fallen. First, they show the boy from 5, then both from 6, then the boy from 7, then both from 8, the boy from 10 and then both from 12.

I breathe a sigh of relief, Georgie and Fredrick are safe, thank god. The other alliance isn't faring so well though, the one made up of districts 5, 7 and 10. They only have 3 people left that didn't die in the bloodbath. If the gamemakers ever pit us against each other, we would win for sure.

Wait, we? Oh no, I'm starting to think like the careers, that I'm one of them. Looks like I'll have to get out of this alliance earlier than I originally planned. I'll leave when there are four careers left.

The next morning, I wake up the earliest. I walk out of my tent, yawning and stretching. Figures, there's no sun in this arena. Just to add to the gloominess I guess. Everyone else would probably wake up in an hour or two.

I quickly turn and sneak over to the supplies pile. Now that they're all asleep, I can grab some supplies for my quick getaway later on in the games.

I grab a medium-size backpack. Then I pack in a couple packs of nuts, fruits and even some canned beans. Perhaps I can cook them over the fire in that red section. Then I also pack in some antiseptics and bandages. Next, I grab a new set of clothes and a flask of water. Finally, I get some nun chucks and put them in there too.

With that done, I stash the bag in a nearby bush in the black section. Perhaps I could go find Georgie and Fredrick when I get away. Assuming they'll still be alive. No, I push that thought away confidently. Georgie's too smart to die so early.

I have no idea how the capitol is responding to this. I don't think they know my skills yet, all they know now is that I'm smarter than I look and I'm planning a getaway later on. They can't find out this soon. Who knows what mentors can put in their notes when they're sending sponsor gifts. A note that says "Watch out for Alice" can very well ruin me.

The rest of the Careers wake up just when I finish making breakfast.

"Wow, you're up early." Sander comments dryly as he sits down next to our makeshift dining table.

I merely smile at him, heaping oatmeal into his bowl. The rest arrive and start digging into their oatmeal as well.

"Where's Kris?" Hayla asks curiously.

"She still hasn't woken up yet, she insists on getting at least eight hours of _beauty sleep _every day." Sander replies sarcastically.

They all snicker. Typical Kris.

How easy it would be for me to poison them, I realize. If I had put poison in the oatmeal, they'd all be dead right now. To my horror, I involuntarily shudder at the thought. It's like I'm repulsed by the idea of killing them. No, I absolutely cannot warm up to them. What have they done to deserve that? Everyone in this arena is my enemy, my prey, pawns for me to manipulate. Emotions are a silly thing to have in the arena.

Suddenly, Salvatore starts choking. His skin has started turning red and his body twitches slightly. We all grimace as he forces himself to throw up all the oatmeal.

"Are you ok?" Jinx asks, concern coloring her features.

Salvatore spat out the last of it and turns to glare at me. The intensity in his eyes nearly causing me to keel over.

"What did you put in there you little bitch!" Salvatore growls, advancing towards me.

"N-N-Nothing! I swear!"

Salvatore grabs me by my throat and pain shoots through my body. He slams me against the cornucopia. Hard.

I cry out as my head collides with the metal. I don't typically show indication of pain when I'm fighting but this is a different story.

"You tried to kill me!" Salvatore yells and is about to slam me against the cornucopia again. Luckily, before he does so, Octavian latches onto Salvatore and throws him on the ground. His death grip on my throat releases and I collapse on the ground, gasping heavily for air.

Thank god. One more second of him holding me like that and I would've slugged him so hard he'd be unconscious for two days.

"Calm down." Octavian deadpans, his face void of emotion. The other Careers are all standing up, looking panicky.

"Calm down?" Salvatore laughs "I'm deathly allergic to peanuts and there are about a dozen of those in the oatmeal!"

My eyes widen. This is all news to me. Fantastic, a weakness to exploit.

"There's no way she could've known that Salvatore." Hayla reasons.

"No one puts peanuts in oatmeal!" Salvatore narrows his eyes at me "You put them there on purpose!"

I quickly do what's expected of me. As always, crying. I break down in sobs, shaking my head "N-No, I swear I didn't do it on purpose! I'm sorry, please don't kill me!"

Before anyone can respond, a cannon sounds close to us, probably at the edge of the black section. Without saying a word, Octavian shoots off in that direction, weapon in hand, Jinx and Sander at his heels.

I take this opportunity of distraction to sprint away from Salvatore. Luckily, he doesn't chase me. That was a close call though, I was this close to revealing myself.


	10. Kris & Harps

**Here's my second chapter in-a-row as promised! **

I stay in my tent the rest of the day, only coming out to cook for lunch and dinner. Fortunately, Salvatore was gone hunting for most of the day. Along with Octavian, Hayla, Sander and Jinx. So it's just me and Kris here at base. Terrific.

"I've never seen Salvatore that mad before." Kris ponders over dinner.

"I shouldn't have put in peanuts. They _are_ the most common allergy. I just wanted to spice up the taste a little." I admit.

Kris shakes her head "He overreacted. He acts all calm and smart but really, he's a fuse waiting to happen."

I look at her. Kris actually isn't as bad as I thought.

Kris smiles "I know, I look like some dumb airhead but I'm actually pretty observant."

I bite my lip "Why'd you volunteer?"

Kris blinks at me "Excuse me?"

I look away sheepishly "It's just, you don't seem like the type to enjoy killing or to risk your life for glory."

Kris remains silent for a moment "You're right. I guess it's because I want to get away from my district."

I probe further "Why? You seem like the popular type."

Kris sighs and rests her head on her hand "That's just it. Everyone sees me as this spoiled girl who does nothing but flirting and dating. I'm so sick of that kind of environment."

"But if you win this, you'll have to go back." I point out.

Kris gives me a small smile "At least then, I'd be known for more than my looks."

Silence falls over us as I ponder that "You do know your district is watching us now right?"

Kris looks around quickly "Oh wow. Forgot about that for a second."

I smile encouragingly "You know you can just tell them now instead of telling me."

Kris crinkles her brow "Tell them what?"

"What you truly feel. How you want to be seen. You might never get a chance to do it again."

Kris thinks about this for a while, and takes a deep breath. She turns to face the empty field in front of the cornucopia. I shudder, imagining the millions of eyes watching us right now.

Kris starts "I know that half of you know me by my reputation. I also know that the other half of you know me for...more than that. However, now that I'm in the Hunger Games, I just want you guys to know I'm not just some shallow vain girl. I may seem like I brush off all those rumors and gossip but it actually hurts. More than half of what you hear about me isn't true."

She stops and looks at me, I nod at her to go on.

"I don't go clubbing every night, I stay home and watch TV with my brothers. I didn't give that teacher a lap dance so I could pass eleventh grade, believe it or not, I actually passed with my own ability. I don't hook up with a new guy every week, I've been having a secret steady relationship now for a year."

I blink, what about Sander?

Kris breathes a sigh of relief "Anyway, just thought I wanted everyone to know the truth about me. Think of it as my dying wish."

I press my lips together, feeling an overwhelming wish to hug this girl.

"I feel much better now." Kris smiles.

"Want to feel even better?" I ask, "Try summing up all your desires in one sentence and yell it out."

Kris cocks her head "Yell it out? Won't people hear us? We are in the hunger games."

I laugh tinkly "Yes but we're careers. Everyone knows we're here at the cornucopia."

Kris purses her lips and turns once again to the field. She takes a deep breath and yells out loudly "I WANT EVERYONE TO ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I REALLY AM!" Her normally sultry voice booms over the empty field, seemingly over the entire arena.

I blink at her, I didn't know she had it in her!

Kris turns to me "Now, you."

"What? But I-"

"No buts." Kris interrupts "You said so yourself. It'd make you feel better."

I think. All my desires in one sentence.

I've got it. I turn to the field and scream "I WANT TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE!" My voice is even louder than Kris's, echoing over the arena.

Kris grins and stands up, spreading her arms wide "I WANT TO LIVE!"

I stand up as well, running out into the field "I WANT FRIED RICE!" I yell. Kris and I burst into laughter and we continue on like this.

"I WANT AN EIGHT-STORY HOUSE!"

"I WANT TWO DOGS!"

"I WANT A NEW HAIRSTYLE!"

"I WANT GREEN SHOELACES!"

Finally, we collapse in the middle of the field, lying there, staring at the dark sky. Our smiles never leaving our faces. That felt good.

Suddenly, we hear footsteps running in our direction. Quickly, the both of us snap up only to see the other Careers running over to us.

"What happened?" Salvatore pants "We heard screaming."

Kris and I stop and look at each other, then we burst out into giggles all over again.

Kris laughs, wiping tears from her eyes "It was just us fooling around."

"Fooling around?" Jinx seethes "We thought our base was being attacked!"

For some reason, the two of us find this unbelievably funny. Under attack? Didn't they hear what we were screaming?

"It's not funny." Hayla says, her eyes flashing. Though I can tell she's joking "Salvatore made us sprint back here the moment you two started your looney fest."

I turn to Salvatore, my happiness fading momentarily as I remember our incident this morning.

Salvatore doesn't appear to be mad though, only disheveled "That's that then. Glad to know nothing happened."

He walks off to his tent. I sit there, confusion enveloping me. What happened to him?

"He feels bad." Sander explains "You know, for this morning."

My eyes boggle, that's the last thing I expect to hear "_He_ feels bad?"

Sander shrugs "A guy can tell. Besides, it's the only logical reason why he didn't chop you guys's heads off just now."

I purse my lips and consider that.

"Alice, can you make some food?" Octavian interjects "We haven't eaten in a couple hours."

I nod and scramble to the makeshift kitchen, preparing some canned soup and beans for everyone.

As they all sit there eating, the capitol anthem plays and we all look up at the sky. There was only one cannon today. This morning when Salvatore was raging.

They project the face in the sky and I feel my stomach drop to the ground. I drop my glass of water as I fall, tears streaming down my face.

It was Georgie.

The next couple minutes pass as excruciatingly long as possible. Tears kept flowing out of my eyes, sobs racked my body and there was nothing I could do to stop it. All I can think is _Georgie is dead, Georgie is dead._

She was the mother I never had. Helping me with those kind brown eyes and warm smile. I still remember how she saved me that first day of training. How she pretended to be fearless despite her trembling hands. All for me.

She was my only friend. The only one I trust in here. Now she's gone.

I break into a fresh new round of sobs. The other careers simply stare at me, not quite knowing what to do.

"Alice." Kris says softly, hugging me "It's ok. Georgie died a peaceful death."

"Think of it this way." Sander chimes in "She was going to have to die at some point in these games."

I cry harder, tripping over my words "B-b-but I d-didn't expect her to-to die s-so fast!"

Octavian sighs "This is ridiculous." He stands up and heads to his tent.

Jinx and Salvatore follow closely behind, sending me looks of pity.

Sander wraps his hands around me, his face a centimeter from mine "At least now, you have me."

Hayla snaps at him, something about respecting privacy and tears him off me.

Soon, I'm left alone. I cry through the night. By dawn the next day, my sadness has turned to rage. When I find who killed her, I'll blow my cover a million times if I have to. I will kill the perpetrator.

Then I realize my emotions have gotten the best of me. This is exactly what I warned myself not to do. I grab a fistful of brown grass and play with it, attempting to mediate myself.

The others didn't bother calling me over to the cornucopia for breakfast. Guess they took it upon themselves to cook it. I have just decided to head back over to the cornucopia when a familiar _dinging_ sound causes me to look up.

A silver parachute floats daintily down. A sponsor gift? For me? Sure enough, the parachute lands right at my feet. I study it, it's a bit large for a sponsor gift. What can be in it?

"Open it." Jinx says. I look up to see all the careers crowded around me, still munching on their breakfast "Maybe it's medicine for insanity." Jinx snickers. No one else seems to find this funny.

I carefully pop open the parachute. At first, I don't understand what I'm looking at. It appears to be various pieces of wood and strings.

Oh!

"Wood? Why would someone send you that?" Hayla asks, crinkling her nose.

I excitedly spread out all the pieces inside. They're parts of a harp! All I have to do is build them together.

I smile up at the sky and mouth _thank you_. Bless Wiress, she remembered how I said playing the harp keeps me sane.

"Ok, I'm so confused right now. Explain." Kris demands, twirling her hair.

"They're various pieces of a harp. All I have to do is piece them together." I explain, already working on building it.

"Harp?" Sander asks "You play the harp?"

I nod in response.

"And you know how to build it?" Salvatore asks, his eyebrow raised.

I nod again. My mom taught me when I was little. She said you can never truly play an instrument until you know everything about it.

"Why would somebody send you a harp though?" Jinx asks confusedly.

"Playing the harp keeps me...I don't know, neutral, sane." I explain as I work "I need it now more than ever."

They left me alone after that. I work for what seems like hours, sweat beating on my brow. The others left to hunt, leaving me and Jinx to guard. Jinx kept to herself, sitting on the opposite side of the cornucopia, sharpening her knives.

Finally, in the late afternoon, I've finished my masterpiece. The harp stood proud and tall, the shining gold exterior providing light where the arena doesn't.

I'm interrupted by the others coming back, their loud grumblings shouting across the cornucopia.

"What's the matter?" Jinx asks, walking over.

Hayla starts explaining "We found the other alliance, with 5, 7 and 10. Naturally, there were only three of them left."

Salvatore throws his backpack on the ground "Yeah, and these _idiots_ let them get away!"

"Rather than blaming others, how about you own up to your own mistakes first." Octavian says. It's the loudest I've ever heard him speak.

"What m-"

"Boys, boys!" Kris interrupts, waving her hands "Calm down! Lets not fight amongst ourselves."

"Good." Jinx says, sitting down "Now how about you tell me exactly what happened."

Sander starts off "Well we were hunting in the white section. The snow was falling so rapidly we could barely see anything. Then an arrow came from nowhere and would've hit Salvatore if it weren't for the snow."

"Then," Hayla continues "we naturally started chasing those cowards. Well, turns out they're smarter then they look and had set up net traps beforehand. Salvatore ran right into one of-"

"It wasn't my fault!" Salvatore cuts in "The snow was so hard I could barely see anything! You guys should've chased after them instead of fussing over my net and getting caught in it yourselves!"

Sander snorts "Well excuse us for helping out our ally. We could've just left you there to die. Show some gratitude."

I laugh, partly because of the comical situation and partly because I know I can play my harp soon.

All the careers turn to me as if just noticing I'm there.

"What are you laughing at?" Salvatore hisses.

I shrug "I don't know. It's just funny how five careers got outsmarted by three tributes from outlier districts."

I regret it the moment I said it.

Salvatore starts to charge me but Kris grabs on before he could.

"Well what's your amazing plan? Lets hear it." Jinx sneers.

I hesitate "Well, we could just set the yellow section on fire."

Octavian stares at me "What?"

I start "They're most likely heading to the yellow section now since you guys found them in the white section."

"Why not the black or the red section?"

I shrug "Since they're so smart, there's no way they'll go in the black section. That's where we hunt the most and the 11 tributes are in the red section."

Hayla snaps her fingers "That's actually brilliant. Wheat dust is extremely flammable. We'd kill off all the tributes hiding in there in an instant."

"I'd wait a couple days though. It'd take them a while to get there through either the black or red section. They'd go the long way around to avoid getting spotted by us here in the cornucopia." I explain.

Salvatore narrows his eyes "Who's to say the flames won't burn us too? The cornucopia is covered in grass."

I smile "We could use the snow from the white section, simply pile it up around the cornucopia. The flames won't touch us then."

There's silence as everyone absorbs this plan.

"No." Salvatore says finally "It's too risky. Besides, I'd rather kill them face-to-face." With that, Salvatore heads off into his tent.

Kris shakes her head "He's just proud. He's mad he wasn't the one thought of that plan."

Octavian nods "It's a formidable plan."

"So you finished your harp?" Hayla asks, changing the subject.

I nod.

"Well play it." Kris says, raising her eyebrows.

I frown "I'd rather play without an audience."

Jinx snorts "That's not going to happen. You're on national television."

I simply shrug and head to my tent. I'll play it tonight when everyone's asleep. It's nice having something familiar in this arena.

I couldn't sleep a wink that night, I fidget endlessly in my sleeping bag, waiting for the others to fall asleep. I simply can't wait to start playing. It's as if the harp is some kind of calming drug to me, I can't do without it.

Finally, once a good three hours have passed, I sneak out of my tent silently to my harp. I sit down on the stool next to it and put my hands on the harp. I pause for a moment, closing my eyes, letting this feeling wash over me.

Then, I start playing. The notes to The River Flows In You once again possesses me. The soft melody flows out smoothly from my fingertips. I feel goosebumps raising up my arm in the sheer excitement of me playing.

Violet's face appears in my mind, her delicate features and loving innocent disposition. I desperately grab ahold of that memory as it slips away, unwilling to let go of the only family I have left in this lifetime. Violet's eyes, her skin, her face, her bubbly personality. Even when she nags at me to finish all my food.

I was too self-confident before, thinking I'd definitely make it out of the arena. Though now that I'm here, that notion seems to fade away. To think that I might never see Violet again.

I suddenly realize I'm crying, tears running silently down my face. They're not fake tears this time. I finish the song and tenderly touch my cheeks. What is this feeling? Longing? Loneliness? Both. I realize that my strongest desire right now is not to live a normal life, but to go home and see my family. Violet and Marley. I miss them with a burning desire.

Suddenly, I hear clapping behind me. I turn around and see Octavian standing there, amusement written on his face.

"Nice song." He says smoothly.

I get up quickly, walking back to my tent. I didn't count on anyone listening, guess I forgot about the night guard.

"Why are you crying?" Octavian asks, bored.

I turn around slowly "I cry all the time. You don't seem to care the other times I've been crying."

Octavian laughs a bit "Yeah, I guess I don't." He glances over at me one last time before walking away.

What a horrible person. When most people see a little girl crying, they'd...I'm forgetting something. This is the hunger games, no one cares when someone's crying and there's plenty of that in here.

I sleep soundly that night, my harp song playing again and again in my head. I dream of Violet and Marley.


	11. Marley & Lucifer

The next morning, we go through the same routine as usual. Except everyone's extra fidgety today since they haven't killed anyone since the first day.

Salvatore suddenly announces "I want everyone to listen up. We'd better kill someone today or we're all going without dinner."

A collective groan rises from the group.

"No groans." Salvatore demands "Clearly what we're doing right now isn't working. We need incentive."

"Incentive isn't a problem here." Kris says, rolling her eyes.

Salvatore ignores her "Hayla, you stay here and guard."

"What? Me again?" Hayla protests "I never see Octavian or Sander staying behind to guard."

Salvatore shrugs and gestures for the rest of us to follow him into the yellow section. We're hunting the red section tomorrow, _not_ looking forward to that.

We trek till late afternoon without finding anything, other than the occasional growl of mutts. I lag behind the group with Kris, the two of us panting heavily.

I almost trip and look down. Oh, it's just my shoelace "You guys go on first, I need to tie my shoe." I call to them.

They nod and go forward, all except Jinx who smirks "You sure you know how to tie a shoe? I hear kids only start learning that when they're 6 years old."

I look down, biting my tongue to keep from insulting her back. Trust me, over our time in this arena, I've come up with a lot of insults about her.

Suddenly, I hear screams ahead of me. The careers screaming? Must be a mutt of some sort.

I quickly finish up my shoelace and run to them.

"Hurry up! Stab it in the eye!" I hear Kris yell as I near them.

"I'm trying! Do you not see how big this thing is?" Sander yells back.

I burst into the clearing, expecting to see a large spider of some sort. What I see makes me stop in my tracks. Shock and realization coloring my features.

"Marley?"

Marley stands in front of me, his white fur glistening with water. Why is he here? Did the capitol get ahold of him? How did they find out about him? Is this a sick way for the president to torture me?

I stare speechless, immune to the chaos going on around me.

No, wait, no it's not Marley. The snout is slightly different. I breathe a sigh of relief and I study the creature. It's some sort of mutation, a mix between Marley's breed which is a Spirit Bear and a wolf. Not-Marley's ears are more triangular instead of round, he possesses whiskers on his snout and he has a long tail and bared fangs.

Overall, a very terrifying yet familiar creature.

"Get it! Stab it!" Jinx screams, bringing me back to reality.

Salvatore cries out in frustration "Shut UP! I'm trying to concentrate!"

Octavian seems to be the only one calm, as always. He's circling Not-Marley carefully, eyeing him for a weak spot.

"NO!" I scream before realizing it "WAIT! DON'T HURT HIM!"

All careers turn to me in disbelief "WHAT?"

"Are you proposing we let him kill us?" Sander yells.

I ignore him and run to the front, about ten feet from Not-Marley. The exact distance I was from Marley when I first met him. I know what I'm about to do is incredibly stupid. That this mutt is not Marley, hence the nickname I've given him. I also know that he is part-wolf. But I have to try.

"What are you doing?" Kris screams "Get away from that thing!"

Octavian and Salvatore simply stare.

I take a deep breath and hold my hand out. Then I start walking forward. Not-Marley growls, his deep guttural roar piercing through the arena. I stop walking, seven feet from him. Not-Marley glares at me, and starts walking over to me.

I panic, this isn't part of the plan. This is where Not-Marley is supposed to stand there and stare at me.

I quickly push that thought away. This'll work, I know it will.

Not-Marley has now reached within six feet of me.

I walk forward once again, my hand still outstretched, staring straight into Not-Marley's eyes. Not-Marley stops walking, his fangs bared at me menacingly, hissing at me.

Okay, clearly my technique needs work. Since Not-Marley is part-wolf, I'll need to revise it a bit.

I keep walking forward. Finally, I reach within three feet of him and stop. Now come to me, I urge silently.

I smile at Not-Marley and whisper "Come over here. Come on Not-Marley."

Not-Marley advances towards me and I don't know whether to laugh or run away. He closes the space between us. Now, his gigantic teeth are about ten centimeters from my fingers. The arena is deathly silent.

Finally, finally, finally, Not-Marley closes the final space between us and puts his snout in my hand. Just as Marley has done.

I smile in delight and rub him where I know it's comfortable "Good boy."

"What the hell. Just happened." Jinx says hollowly.

I turn around and beam at them "You don't have to kill Not-Marley now. He's one of us."

"One of-Are you insane?" Salvatore yells, the sudden loudness causing Not-Marley to growl.

"No, I promise he's safe now." I turn to Marley "You won't hurt them right? They're my friends." I say to him. Not-Marley gives a short growl then when met with my reprimanding look, he quickly whimpers.

I turn back at them, beaming from ear-to-ear "See?"

Kris is wide-eyed "Did you just tame a mutt?"

"That's the first time ever in the hunger games." Sander murmurs.

Octavian remains silent, eyeing me.

Salvatore looks like he's ready to burst a vessel "How are you all so calm about this? We have to kill that thing!"

"What? Why?" I exclaim.

"I don't see a problem with it." Octavian finally speaks "He could scare off the other tributes if he's with us. Plus if he proves to be a problem, we can kill him then."

Salvatore turns bright red in fury but the others seem to agree with Octavian.

"Yeah, why not?" Jinx says smiling "I've always wanted a pet bear."

I cheer "Yes! I'll bring Not-Marley back to camp!"

Salvatore laughs "And how exactly are you going to do that?"

"Easy." I straddle Not-Marley's leg and climb up. Finally, I reach his back and settle there, using his thick fur as handles.

"You're going to ride him?" Octavian asks surprised.

I nod "Anyone else coming with?"

They all look at me as if I'm insane.

"Yeah, I'll try it." Jinx volunteers after a moment of silence, stepping out.

Octavian nods "Me too."

Kris looks like she's about to faint "Are you guys serious? Do you know how dangerous that is?"

Jinx laughs "Wake up princess, we're in the hunger games." She turns to look up at me "Can't believe I'm going to say this, but nice job three."

I nod smiling, gesturing for them to climb up Not-Marley's legs.

They quickly do so after staring warily at him, grunting at the effort.

"Alright, hold on tight to his fur guys." I say, smiling in anticipation once they're behind me "This ride is going to get bumpy."

I raise up my hand and pat him hard on his neck. Not-Marley gets the cue, he rears up and starts running full-speed ahead.

As he runs, the yellow field around us blurs, the wind whips at our faces. I use my tight hold on his fur to tell him which direction to go. I smile widely, it's as if I'm actually riding Marley back home.

I look back at them. Octavian sits right behind me, his face red with exhilaration. That's the most emotion I've seen of him since I've met him. Jinx is behind him, laughing and whooping. I start laughing as well and I swear I see Octavian crack a smile.

We've only been riding Not-Marley for minutes before we're back at camp. Hayla's jaw drops to the ground when she sees us.

"And we're here!" I cheer. I pat Marley again to signal him to stop. I almost jump off Not-Marley with my traditional somersault jump before realizing that'd blow my cover. I sigh mentally, as if I haven't blown it enough already. Nonetheless, I climb down him and pat him on the snout praisingly as Octavian and Jinx get off.

"Here you go." I say, feeding Not-Marley a small piece of raw fish.

"What is going on?" Hayla asks, standing twenty feet away with her trident at the ready.

Jinx laughs, her cheeks still flushed from the ride "Don't worry Hayla. He's one of us."

"I think I would remember if I had a bear as an ally."

We all laugh "Long story." We say simultaneously.

I spend the next few hours playing with Not-Marley. I wonder how the gamemakers are reacting to this, I'd bet they don't like having their precious mutations tamed. They're probably plotting some kind of mutation attack on us, just to show us who's boss.

I feel a presence behind me and I turn around, Octavian stands there, glistening with his recent shower.

I force myself to widen my eyes nervously.

"If I were interested in hurting you, I would've done it a long time ago." Octavian says emotionlessly.

I relax visibly.

"What I am interested in is that mutt. What did you call him? Not-Marley?"

I nod vigorously "Perhaps that's not suitable. I'm trying to think of another one."

"Well why'd you call him Not-Marley in the first place?"

At this point, my fake persona would tell him all about my pet bear back home. If I were to lie, there's no saying Octavian won't see right through me. He seems to be the master of observation. Then again, if I do tell him, he might start seeing me as a threat.

Thankfully, we're interrupted by the other careers coming back. Expectedly, Salvatore is fuming once more, storming into the cornucopia like a madman.

"I can't believe this. All we've done since the bloodbath is get caught in some nets and adopt a pet." Salvatore curses under his breath "What are those gamemakers doing? Are we the only ones trying to kill around here? Are they trying to drag out the games or something?"

Octavian frowns "They're most likely planning something big for them to be silent this long."

"Like what?" Kris asks.

"Dramatic confrontations with all the other tributes? A feast? That volcano erupting?" Octavian shrugs "There are tons of possibilities, we have to stay on our guard."

I don't know how but somehow, Octavian seems to have taken on a leadership role within the group. Salvatore is too busy steaming to notice. What an idiot.

The next morning, Salvatore suddenly announced what we were all dreading.

"Today, we're hunting in the red section."

A moment of silence ensued.

"What?" Kris finally asks "But most of the tributes are in the black section."

"Actually, we don't know that." Jinx comments, "Perhaps they've all moved to another section already. Maybe that's why we can't seem to find anyone in there."

"But that place looks horrifying." Hayla says "I don't think we can survive a day in there."

"District 11 did it." Octavian shrugs.

"But tons of mutts are in there!" Kris protests.

"We can bring the bear." Octavian states.

Sander scoffs at that "No tribute would come within five miles of us with that huge thing trailing us."

"They won't see him." Octavian presses "The treetops would cover him."

"Plus, he barely makes a sound." I put in. I want to go hunt in the red section too, we've been in this arena way too long already.

"Fine. Well then, can I at least stay here to guard?" Kris pleads.

"No." Salvatore barks "Everyone's going this time."

"Sorry, what?" Hayla says confusedly "Then won't the other tributes come and raid us?"

"No. There isn't a tribute anywhere close to here." Octavian assures "I checked the whole area surrounding the cornucopia last night."

Kris and Hayla finally fall silent, unable to conjure up an argument.

We leave shortly after that, entering into the most terrifying part of the arena.

As we enter, the temperature seems to raise ten degrees, the flames roaring and spitting fire everywhere. Thankfully, the moment we enter, a sponsor gift came possessing fire-retardant jackets.

I pull mine on gratefully, I have a very bad history with fire. Biting my lip, I look down at the scar on my hand.

Soon, we cross the flaming wasteland and into the forest. Once again, I walk in the back with Lucifer. I changed his name from Not-Marley. Lucifer sounds appropriate for a bear-wolf, don't you think?

Lucifer seems in his element here, walking proudly, strongly. I smile warmly and admire his eyes, he really does remind me of Marley.

Then out of nowhere, a sword comes whizzing out and embeds itself into Lucifer.

_Thanks for reading! Please review xx_


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